Mediator from country where the breakup of Yugoslavia started, Pahor en route to be Lajcak's successor

Pahor on Sunday has declared that something must be done for the EU-mediated Kosovo-Serbia dialogue to be activated, as he put it on hold.

I am preparing myself very carefully and responsibly, maybe this week my candidacy will be presented in Brussels, in which I will explain why I feel appropriate to resolve this issue. Last but not least, Slovenia, as I do, seems to me, has the status of an honest mediator, rich experience in this region and, of course, also a series of ideas on how to refresh or revive this stalled dialogue. In general, the security and political situation in the region is very disturbing”, he said during an interview for RTV Slovenia.

Even though it has remained four months since Lajcak's mandate was completed in August, the balance of results he has achieved has already been placed on scales and expectations for a new stream of dialogue -- the moment Kosovo is located at the lowest diplomatic level -- are huge. Unlike Slovakia and Miroslav Lajcak, who does not recognise Kosovo's independence, Pahor's Slovenia has strongly supported it and lobbied for strengthening Kosovo's position in international diplomatic relations.

For many analysts and good connoisseurs of diplomacy, the possible new face of Kosovo dialogue leadership- Serbia is motivated by political calculations. Closely recognising regional conflict as a political and diplomatic figure that has been raised and built in the reality of the Balkan space of the former Yugoslavia, they consider Pahor to be better than the overwhelming majority of candidates that can come into line.

For many of them, however, Serbia will not be strongly open to this candidacy. Not because Pahor has any anti-Serb stories, but because Serbia does not consider Slovenia to be friendly, not even neither.

Serbia's claim, they say, will be that “Slovenia has recognised the state of Kosovo and sided with its”, which will make it an unlegging mediator from the Serbian state.

Weight could also be played by the fact that Pahor could not have forgotten that the beginning of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia had started precisely with the attack Serbian military forces undertaken against his state, Slovenia.

Despite taking care to be cool in his judgments on the Kosovo-Serbia conflict, Pahor has not found himself out of the case.

Three years ago, there was widespread controversy over a non-paper] reportedly emerging from his office and supporting the idea of a division of borders in the Balkans on ethnic grounds. But even though he flatly removed the voices and confidently reiterated his position that if any change of borders in the Balkans is made, war would be the only consequence, this panpernon-paperú did not go through without criticism.

I am against ideas that appear in such documents, and I am much closer to thinking that EU enlargement and these borders exist. Even if someone naturally thinks and starts to talk about the borders in this region, I know it will not end peacefully, as we have experience from this region regarding changing borders. I totally reject the idea of this guy., he said to the world while several times he told the idea that Serbia and Kosovo should engage constructively in dialogue.

The fact is, leaders of both countries must find the solution. As a friend of both Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, I want a political will to be found for the continuation of these difficult negotiations, and in the end I hope that they will find the decision which will be a good compromise for both sides and is understood also for the European Union”, he said, while adding that Kosovo has some conditions to meet.

The main point for which he has insisted is the formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities, followed by respect for the agreement on normalising relations with Belgrade and ratification of the demarcation with Montenegro.

In the international arena, he is considered one of the best career politicians, and his support these days has been confirmed.

The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of political unrest and conflicts during the early 1980s. After a period of political crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of Yugoslavia's Socialist Federation split, but unresolved issues triggered bitter interethnic Yugoslav wars. Wars affected Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.