Garčević Writes Op-Ed on “Unfinished Business in the Balkans”
Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an op-ed in Balkan Insight discussing “unfinished business in the Balkans” and U.S. interest in the region. The phrase “unfinished business in the Balkans” refers to several issues, including outstanding bilateral disputes, the status of Kosovo, weak state institutions, a democratic deficit across the region and the vulnerability of post-conflict societies.
In the op-ed, Garčević explores the bleak state of the Balkan states as well as why the region has been and will remain on the periphery for the U.S. That is to say, the Balkans will only draw the attention of the U.S. and other core countries if it becomes a source of problems for them.
An excerpt:
The COVID-related economic crisis and the current political challenges, upcoming US presidential elections as well as the worsening diplomatic disagreements and trade war with China will mostly keep the region below America’s foreign policy radar.
The fact that the US has sent two envoys to the Western Balkans does not contradict that assertion. It confirms it; the sudden involvement of Ambassador Richard Grenell in a region he knew little of only makes sense when placed in the context of the US presidential elections.
When the State Department named Matthew Palmer, an experienced diplomat, as ”special representative for the Western Balkans with a mandate to help integrate the region into Western institutions”, I and many of my colleagues took that as a move in the right direction. But only months later, the US then appointed Grenell to almost same task. Ever since, Palmer has remained in the shadow of Grenell’s energetic but sometimes edgy style of negotiation. His direct connection with the US President has brought the process much-needed political weight, but the lack of a comprehensive strategy behind it remains the biggest challenge.
The full op-ed can be read here.
During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garčević 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.