This could be concluded from the yesterday’s debate over Serbian-American relations in which the most important analysts of the topic took part. Our former ambassadors to the US Zivorad Kovacevic and Ivan Vujacic said that independence of Kosovo is finished story for the new administration in Washington. They also believe that there shall be no pressure on Serbia to recognize Kosovo but only to respect its international obligations.
The debate was organized by the Center for democracy in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
‘Biden’s visit has big political significance just because of the decision to give importance to this region in spite of other problems. Belgrade has no reason to impose the topic of Kosovo. I expect that Biden shall express strong support to European integration and it would be very useful that he says that loudly. Washington is in the first place interested in the stability of the region and European integration processes are the best manner to achieve that. Biden’s visit is also important in the economic sense since it sends the message that Serbia is safe for investing’, Kovacevic said.
According to Vujacic no significant improvement in relations with the USA shall be possible before legal opinion on Kosovo independence by the International Court of Justice.
Many participants in the debate pointed out that European integration is not possible without good relations with the USA and warned of the problem of the increasing anti-American sentiment especially among younger generations in Serbia.
Participants also pointed out necessity for cooperation in the sphere of security and that the relations between Serbia and the USA are equal to relations between Serbia and the NATO. They insist that Serbia shall have to give up military neutrality and find out new models of cooperation if it does not want to be in hostile surroundings.