Is Ambassador Guerot right when he compares the relations between France and Great Britain with Serbia and Kosovo?
The example of reconciliation between France and Great Britain, which the French ambassador to Kosovo, Olivier Guerot, pointed out a few days ago in the context of a model for the reconciliation of Serbia and Kosovo, according to the opinion of the interlocutors of Kosovo Online, is not adequate, because there is no parallel if we take into account these relations seen through history.
Historian Stanislav Sretenovic, scientific adviser at the Institute for Contemporary History, tells for Kosovo Online that he finds the parallel made by Ambassador Guerot strange.
"The ambassador would have to clarify what he meant so that we could analyze it. He could be referring to the Hundred Years' War between the English and the French, in the 14th and 15th centuries, and the expulsion of the English from the European continent, that is, from France. Second, he could have been referring to the Fashoda incident in East Africa in 1898, after which the Entente Cordial between France and England was signed in 1904, and which was accompanied by great fanfare. The third moment, historically speaking, is the eventual rejection of England to join the European Economic Community, which was inspired by French policy. De Gaulle did not like the English in the European Community, but after that the French still accepted England's entry into the European Community and the European Union, so that in the end the English would leave it voluntarily," says Sretenovic.
When asked whether these problematic moments during the history of conflict and reconciliation between the two powers are comparable to the issue of Serbia and Kosovo, Sretenovic says that he does not see a valid comparison.
"It is not comparable because there are different times, contexts, the issue of sovereignty, the issue of structures of societies, states, the international context, and the fall of communism and its consequences in Eastern Europe. When you look at all that, this comparison has no slight connection. Eventually, the Franco-German reconciliation could be taken as an example, but again very limited and it would be more valid for Serbs and Croats than for Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija, because this is a question of a sovereign country from which a part of the territory is being separated", says Sretenovic.
The former ambassador of Serbia in London, Dejan Popovic, also tells for Kosovo Online that he does not see any parallel between the relations between England and France and Serbia and Kosovo, unless, as he says, the message of the French ambassador was that all conflicts can be overcome.
Popovic reminds that part of France was under the English crown until the 15th century and that the French managed to free themselves from the English crown in the Hundred Years' War, but he notes that it was a time of feudalism when England was not considered to have colonized parts of France, but according to the principle of succession to the crown, the English king claimed parts of French territory. He recalls that at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, Calais ceased to be English territory and was returned to the hands of the French.
"That's one part of the story, and I don't believe that the ambassador had that parallel in mind. The parallel that he probably had in mind is that the French and the English were traditional rivals for supremacy in this part of the world. From Louis XIV who was at war with the Duke of Wellington, through Louis XV who was losing wars to the English in the middle of the 18th century, to Napoleon and his wars when England was constantly the main opponent and we know how it ended - with the exile of Napoleon to Saint Helena which is an English colony in the South Atlantic. In the 19th century, we had a potential conflict between two colonial powers on the territories in Africa, when there was almost a war in Fashoda, in today's South Sudan, where French and English units came into contact with the goal - who would first control that part of the Nile. Then, slowly, the common enemy, that is, the German Empire, began to bring England and France closer together, so in 1904 the Cordial Entente came about, when they decided to overcome their previous conflicts and become allies in the conflict with Germany that was looming," Popovic says.
That alliance and friendship, he adds, went through certain oscillations throughout the 20th century. They were together in both world wars, as well as in the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
"All this can only on a very principled level serve as an example that conflicts can be overcome and reconciliation can be reached, but the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia cannot be compared to the relationship between Great Britain and France. With all due respect to the Ambassador of France, these are incomparable things. Perhaps one could compare the relationship between Sudan and South Sudan, for example. They were one country until 2011 when South Sudan seceded and now they have established some friendly relations. It could be a parallel, but I don't really see any parallel between England and France. Only if the ambassador's message was not that all conflicts can be overcome", says Popovic.
French ambassador to Kosovo, Olivier Guerot, posted on Twitter a photo with Great Britain's ambassador to Kosovo, Nicholas Abbott, watching together the TV broadcast of the coronation of King Charles III. He posted a comment with that photo that France and Great Britain are friends and allies forever. He also stated that this is another example of reconciliation between neighbors who once had problems with each other and added the flags of Serbia and Kosovo to that comment, alluding that the two sides should do the same.
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