The Economist: Thaci, Vucinqi's border change project has failed

According to “The Economist”, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Serbia's Aleksandar Vuciq, in August of this year announced at a conference in Alpbach, Austria, that they would consider changing borders as part of normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which is also a condition for the two countries' EU membership.

The idea of long-standing border change has been rejected by the EU and the US, as a red line that risks the revival of ethnic conflict, but comments by EU and US officials during the month of August are seen more as a change of attitude.

Taking place according to the “The Economist”, changing borders between Kosovo and Serbia will not occur during the period 2018-2022, as such a proposal would be rejected both within the Kosovo government, but also by countries like Germany and Great Britain that disagree with the idea of new borders.

Kosovo and Serbia's president have officially not presented specific details about the possible change of borders, but according to comments by Kosovo and Serbian authorities, three options appear to exist.

The first is fully dedicated to the north of Kosovo, in which four Serb majority municipalities are involved, aimed at becoming part of Serbia.

The second concerns “transferation” of the northern part of Kosovo in Serbia, as majority Albanian municipalities in the Presevo Valley would pass Kosovo.

The third would reverse the borders that have existed in 1956, where several Kosovo villages mostly inhabited by Serbs would pass over Serbia, in exchange for some populated villagers mainly with Albanians who would pass Kosovo. With that, the northern part of Mitrovica would not be transferred “, which is considered the largest urban area in Kosovo inhabited by Serb populations.