“Der Standard”: Germany pressure Kosovo, accommodate Serbia

The prestigious Vietnamese newspaper “Der Standard” It has cost a German policy article in the Western Balkans in light of day-to-day agreements on German economic co-operation with Serbia.

German approach, according to author Adelheid Wolfic in the Der Standard article, is estimated to be “acooperative” on Serbia and pressure on Kosovo.

However, for the Kosovo pressure, the author writes it comes from the United States of America, while Germany “Just following them.”.

“However, German foreign policy towards the Western Balkans is also formulated in the Chancellor, for example by Jens Plötner, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's most important foreign policy adviser (SPD). The German course is clearly aimed at boosting Serbia's economic co-operation, while Kosovo, for example, is being pressured by German diplomats. This policy is widely dictated by the American administration and Germany is simply following it.”, said in the article.

“This was finally shown when the representative of the German federal government for the Western Balkans, Green politician Manuel Sarrazin, announced that Kosovo could be excluded from the regional free trade agreement Cefta if it does not lift the import ban on Serbian goods. According to Sarrazin, the EU could also exclude Kosovo from the only euro payment zone (SEPA), which is especially important for remittances from the diaspora”, is written in the article.