German Kosovo rapporteur between Europe, Balkans and US

The “is clear, for us this is very good news”, Kosovo Ambassador to Berlin Bequaj told DW.

Peter Beyer is a very good connoisseur of Kosovo and the Balkans, but also of very strong ties to the United States of America.

His appointment will bring more differentiated reports on Kosovo to the Council of Europe”, said Cupaj further, who recognises the German MP from his numerous activities in Berlin.

Peter Beyer was born in 1970 in the town of Ratingen, Landin Nordrain-Westfallen.

The father of two children still in school studied law, politics, and history in Dusseldorf and Bonn, as well as in Virginia in the United States. After a several-year career in several international Chancellors, he began his political career in 2002 as a member of the municipal council of his modern residence, Heiligenhaus.

In 2009, he first ran for deputy in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and won a direct mandate with nearly 40% of the vote. His victory turned to the electoral zone, Metmann II, the Christian Union (CDU), which had lost power there for 15 years.

Balkans, Kosovo recogniser

The Christian MEP, who since 2009 is a rapporteur for the Western Balkans at the Bundestag Foreign Commission, recognises Kosovo not only from office meetings in Pristina and Berlin. In September he was back in Podujevo to support the twinning of the northeastern city of Kosovo with one of its towns, Welbert. Beyer has already supported the twinning initiative, which was finally crowned in April of this year.

He is one of the earliest supporters of visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens and the most energetic advocates of Kosovo's territorial integrity. In various interviews and speeches, he has always expressed himself against the the thesis of changing borders and has called on almost every speech given in Bundestag for recognising Kosovo by the five still rejected EU states. It is in the European Union's interest not to leave the doors open for other actors and to strengthen their influence”, Beyer argued in his most recent call to Bundestag on the occasion of extending KFOR's mandate in June 2019.

Despite his kindness for the Western Balkans, he does not hesitate to say the criticism openly: Whether to demand repeatedly from Kosovars the removal of taxes 100 per cent for Serbia's goods, whether by making it clear to Serbia, that the precondition of its EU membership is recognition of Kosovo. Requesting these that do not listen eagerly to local politicians.

Peter Beyer managed to win the Kosovo rapporteur race at the Council of Europe, challenging even his Russian competitor, Alexey Kondrayev, who still treats Kosovo as part of Serbia. With Kosovo Peter Beyer does not only unite Podujevo, and his pro-independence stance. Deep gratitude to the United States also unites with Kosovars. Like Kosovars who are grateful to the superpower across the Atlantic for the release of Milosevic's regime, Beyer is also grateful to the United States for his support of the Union of Germany. Last week he publicly expressed this thanks with an article entitled “Thank you America! ” in the German daily “Frankfurter Allgemine”.

By 2018 Beyer is in charge of the German government for transatlantic relations, thus serving as the liaison to resolving the many differences currently existing between the Trump administration and the Merkel government, one of which is certainly the issue of Serbia-Kosovo dialogue. Beyer's appointment as rapporteur for Kosovo in the EC strengthens his position as key observer and media player in the European-Balkan triangle- USA. / DW