Serwer reacts to Thaci: Transaction of Territorials Is a Bad Idea

Thaci has made it clear that he intends to discuss changing Kosovo's borders with Serbian President Vuciq.

He denies that this implies Kosovo's ethnic division and calls it a correction of borders -- an euphemism meant to mean a territory swap.

Serwer has said that, if the correction of Kosovo-Serbia borders and the final agreement on mutual recognition is reached, and if such an agreement is mutual and balanced, it would result in favourable victories for both sides, then no one would be against it”.

The former American diplomat has said, however, that the “exchange of territories” will not happen without US and EU reconciliation.

“Brussels and Washington have apparently decided that the integration of northern Serb municipalities with the rest of Kosovo is simply very difficult, so they have dropped their earlier opposition”, he has said.

Daniel Serwer has listed several reasons, why setting boundaries, or whatever, is a bad idea.

Most Serbs in Kosovo, as well as the most important Serbian monasteries and other religious sites, are not in the north. Those south of the Iber River will be in danger, short and long term, if the territory is exchanged.

The exchange would boost support for those Albanians in Kosovo who favour joining Albanians and those of Macedonia who want to join a Greater Albania would potentially be destabilising Macedonia.

Republika Srpska, 49% controlled by the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, would want to follow suit by declaring independence and seeking to join Serbia. This will spur a comparable Croatian movement to have Bosnia's Croat majority cantons join Croatia.

The Russians will show this correction of borders as precedent for what they would like to do with South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia, Transnistria in Moldova and Donbas, as well as Crime in Ukraine, Telegraphed.

They may even like enough ideas to allow Kosovo in the United Nations, which would be a victory for Pirrophia if it would join Greater Albania, or if China has not yet decided to veto Kosovo membership.

I still hope that agreement on this bad idea will be difficult to achieve.

Serbia has good security reasons not to give up territory in southern Serbia that extends past its main exit to the sea.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is a major loser if this “correction” continues.

Kosovo has good reason not to trigger a series of claims on international border corrections that are unlikely to be peaceful.

Neither will current Pristina politicians thrive in an environment in which Kosovo's population envisions the end of the country's citizenship by joining in Albania.

Vetevendosje, a move that has threatened the possibility of joining Albania, will be the big winner.

A democratic Kosovo and a democratic Serbia should be able to find conditions for protecting their respective minority population without this dangerous exchange of territory and population.

Of course, here's the problem: neither a consolidated democracy nor both are run by ethnic nationalists who still have insufficient respect for minorities.

It should not be a major surprise that an ethnic nationalist administration in the US and one in the EU in which ethnic nationalism has gained a lot of ground weakens in their commitment to democracy and rule of law, but is not a welcome development. This is a bad idea, whose time shouldn't come, Daniel Cerwer said.