Garcevic Interviewed on Protests in the Balkans, EU Enlargement
Ambassador Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed for a recent article on the current wave of protests in the Balkans, EU enlargement and Russian influence in the region.
Garcevic was interviewed for an April 17, 2019 article in Politiko Albania entitled “BU Professor Doubts the Assertion That the Albanian Opposition is Under Kremlin Influence.”
From the text of the article:
Though the protests in Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania can’t be placed in the same basket they have many things in common. They indicate the growing discontent of people with political elites and their revolt against corruption, particracy, clientelism and the widening gap between losers and winners of the so-called democratic transition. However, they differ one from another. In some cases, like in Albania, the opposition overtly leads the protests, whereas in Serbia and Montenegro opposition at the beginning kept a low-key role to become more and more involved over time. In my opinion, there is a high probability for the nationalistic opposition in both states to hijack the citizens’ movements. The organizational capacity of those who are in charge of the protests is also not clear.
I believe that Moscow carefully follows what’s going on in the region backing its political allies. In Belgrade, the Kremlin has nothing to lose. Whoever wins will be an ally of Russia. Albania is also a clear case but on the opposite side. Whoever wins will be leaning towards the West. Montenegro can be a game changer. If the nationalist, pro-Russian opposition wins, they may decide to adjust the country’s foreign policy trajectory. They may, for example, decide to revoke the recognition of Kosovo what they promised to do if come to power.
During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garcevic dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School.