Gërvalla on the eve of the elections in the USA: I see no signs of change in support for Kosovo

2024-11-04 15:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Gërvalla on the eve of the elections in the USA: I see no signs of change

The Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, said on Monday that she has not seen any signs that the United States' support for Kosovo may change after the November 5 presidential elections in the USA.

"We are lucky that in the USA we have had the support of both camps, i.e. the Republican and Democratic camps. Therefore, I don't see any signal that such a thing has changed along the way", said Gërvalla when he was asked at a media conference what he expects in the relations between Kosovo and the USA after the elections there on Tuesday.

In the race for the next American president are Kamala Harris, from the Democratic Party, currently vice president, and Donald Trump, from the Republican Party and president from 2017 to 2021.

Gërvalla said during the joint conference in Pristina with the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, that Kosovo will strengthen its relations with the United States by performing its "homework".

"By advancing the reform agendas and establishing the law in every corner of Kosovo, fighting organized crime, this is how the partnership with the USA is strengthened. It is not strengthened by words and statements, but by concrete work", she said.

The current American administration, of which Harris is a member, has constantly encouraged Kosovo to normalize relations with Serbia, as a condition to move forward on the path of European integration, while Trump as president has witnessed the signing of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia for the normalization of economic relations.

For analysts in the US, the situation will not be so simple, however. Initially, with the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, Kosovo will not penetrate high on the agenda, according to them.

Frank Wisner, the former US envoy on the status of Kosovo, told Radio Free Europe's Expose program last week that Kosovo's biggest problem is the dispute with Serbia, which continues to not recognize its independence, even though 17 years after the announcement.

Wisner doesn't expect any movement in that direction if Harris is elected president.

David Phillips, director of the Peacebuilding and Human Rights Program at Columbia University, shares similar views on Harris, as he does not expect any significant action from her regarding relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

But for Trump, the prospects are far more worrisome.

Both experts fear that his "transactional" approach could lead to unpredictable and potentially dangerous consequences for the future of Kosovo.

Wisner does not rule out the possibility that Trump will explore the division of Kosovo as a quick solution to its ongoing conflict with Serbia, recalling an agreement to exchange territories between Kosovo and Serbia, along ethnic lines, rumored in 2020, during the mandate Trump's first presidential term.

Phillips also said that Trump sees the division of Kosovo as a quick solution to its troubled ethnic relations and this, according to him, would not only destabilize Kosovo, but would also open Pandora's Box to other countries. multi-ethnic Balkans, such as North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia./REL