Minister in Vienna – Kosovo: Destabilization in the Balkans by Russia

Russia’s current massive shelling of targets across Ukraine shows “that this war still has enormous potential for escalation and destruction,” Schallenberg warned at a joint news conference. “Every day we experience how Russia poses an ever-increasing threat, not only to the Baltic states, but also to the Balkans,” Kosovar Foreign Minister said. “For years, Putin has worked closely with his proxies and became increasingly militant and aggressive, including in southern Europe,” said Gërvalla-Schwarz.

Kosovo deploys feelers to the EU
The chief diplomat, who grew up partly in Germany and thus speaks perfect German, thanked Schallenberg for his “tiring commitment” to visa liberalization for Kosovo, which the EU had promised for years but had not yet implemented. “It is completely incomprehensible that we have not made any progress with visa liberalization,” the foreign minister once again criticized. “We must finally get to work, as with Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which should be given EU candidate status. Schallenberg spoke of a “litmus test for Europe”, which should demonstrate strategic foresight in the immediate vicinity: “Can we export security and stability or do we risk having to import instability and insecurity at some point,” he said. .

Schallenberg stressed the importance of the EU-led standardization dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. This is a “bottleneck the whole region has to get through”. Without directly mentioning Serbia or Kosovo, the foreign minister warned that “blockades, wherever they come from, be it in the negotiations or on the streets, would ultimately only leave losers in their wake”. Therefore, he hopes that there will be a willingness to compromise and that progress will be possible.

Access rules for Serbs continue to cause tension
When asked whether measures such as Kosovo’s entry rules for Serbs introduced over the summer, which had sparked tensions at the Serbia-Kosovo border, were useful, Schallenberg said: Being a fuse and a potential for escalation is not in the importance of Pristina and Belgrade, that is also not conducive to the road to the European Union”. Austria has recognized the independence of Kosovo, the position is clear, “but there is a need for cooperation on bilateral paths between the two partners, that is the only way forward”.

Gërvalla-Schwarz described the imposed entry rules as “just the logical conclusion of a very long process” after Serbia rejected offers for equal treatment talks. It has now been achieved that Serbia now recognizes Kosovar identity cards. However, the conflict has not been completely resolved: October 31 is the deadline for replacing Serbian number plates with Kosovar ones. Gërvalla-Schwarz was convinced that only a minority of members of the Serbian minority in Kosovo had not.

Invitation to invest in Balkan country
Both foreign ministers praised the excellent relations between Austria and Kosovo “since the hour of the birth” of Europe’s youngest state, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Gërvalla-Schwarz invited Austria to invest in the small Balkan country. “Austria is especially welcome with us. I would say the moment is there, your neighbors are already on the starting blocks.” For his part, Schallenberg stated that Austria would like to rise in the top 3 investors in Kosovo. Appropriate framework conditions are also needed on the Kosovo side.