“Now is a historic chance for Serbia and Kosovo to reach an agreement, with the help of visionary political leaders and coordinated support from the US and the EU,” Executive Vice President at Atlantic Council of the United States Damon Wilson said, adding that he believes Serbia will recognize Kosovo’s independence.

“I believe Serbia will recognize Kosovo’s independence but it won’t happen just like that. It must be part of a package which suits Serbia as well. It’s a chance for Serbia to develop its economy, to improve its work force’s potential by accelerating its EU accession path,” Wilson told Voice of America.

He noted that the lack of normalization of relations is an obstacle to Kosovo and Serbia’s “planning for the future,” adding that the Kosovo issue needs to be resolved “now, in the next few months”.

“There is no artificial deadline, but it’s urgent. The world economy is changing drastically, and this whole part of the world, the Balkans, Kosovo and Serbia will remain undeveloped. There is a historic chance, there are political leaders who have the vision to do this and to understand how much of coordinated support from Europe and Washington there is, even in the face of differences. The US and EU want to be helpful and push it to end. Now is the moment, because everyone is entering the electoral process, everybody wants this to be over before the attention is drawn to the election,” Wilson said, adding that he believes Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic would survive the recognition politically.

Wilson said Kosovo’s taxes on imports of goods from Serbia and Bosnia “were very disruptive” and should be abolished, but added that “aggressive efforts to prevent recognition of Kosovo’s independence and membership in international organizations should also be stopped.”

He added that he believed Vucic would “politically survive” if he recognized Kosovo.

(Danas, 02.08.2019)

https://www.danas.rs/politika/dejmon-vilson-verujem-da-ce-srbija-priznati-nezavisnost-kosova-nema-roka-ali-je-hitno/

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