Maliqi: Macroni's stances towards Albania, Kosovo smell xenophobia

According to him, with the loss of European perspective for the Balkans, the EU has lost its weight as a mediator of Kosovo dialogue- Serbia and the dialogue itself have lost meaning.

You can read the complete scripture below:

We had an interesting discussion today about the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue at the Belgrade Security Forum. A review of the attitudes I was able to convey.

1. With yesterday's decision not to open negotiations with Albania and Macedonia, France effectively carried the message that it wants to lock the Balkan countries' EU membership process. Macro is exploiting Britain's departure from the EU and Merkel's weakening to take over the European leader's wheel. To our region he is behaving like a Trump, while his and Dutch attitudes towards Albania (and Kosovo for visas) reek xenophobia. In the capitals of Europe, proposals for the Balkans in the future are already being seriously discussed for the goal of becoming part of the common market.
2. With the loss of European perspective for the Balkans, the EU has lost its weight as a mediator of Kosovo-led dialogue. Serbia and the dialogue itself have lost meaning. Serbia without European perspective has no pressure to recognise us, while in such dialogue Kosovo has no need to engage. Thus Germany's determining power in the region has waned. The only force that can do anything is the US, but its leverages to convince Serbia to recognise us are unclear. Likely, solutions cannot be expected from abroad, but we must find them as the region itself. We are alone!
3. But we ourselves are very hostile and divided as the region and are not ready to achieve ultimate peace. So we are entering a several-year period of uncertainty where instead of seeking solutions we should try not to let the situation slip into tensions. Many foreign parties like Russia could turn their eyes towards destabilising the Balkans after success in Ukraine and Syria. In this situation, Serbia's increasing militarism, its non-recognition of Kosovo and the lack of full security guarantees (against NATO presence) constitutes concern and threat.
4. This situation Kosovo, such as state and entity already consolidated inside but internationally blocked, will be able to respond by getting closer to key security partners (particularly US and British) as well as by deepening and strengthening relations with Albania in the field of security and foreign policy. In the context of the European lack of perspective for the latter, no form of confederation is excluded over the coming years.
5. In the context of domestic policy, efforts to avoid Albin Kurti as prime minister would be not only undemocratic and destabilising, but politically against-productive for those who target it. For Kosovo dialogue is not the only topic of importance: voters have given principled mandate for development agendas and rule of law.