Petrovic: By not recognizing Kosovo, many countries show they are unwilling to follow a subservient policy toward the West

Kosovo has not received any new recognitions of its unilaterally declared independence in the past four years, and political scientist and researcher at the Institute for European Studies in Belgrade, Rajko Petrovic, tells Kosovo Online that the European Union countries that have not recognized Kosovo are waiting for the conclusion of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina to take a final stance. However, he is convinced that they will not change their position, as they themselves face internal issues related to secessionist ambitions in certain regions.

As for the countries outside of Europe that do not recognize Kosovo, Petrovic adds that they are defending their long-held principled positions. At the same time, the collective West has exhausted its capacity in this area, making it difficult to find a country that would recognize Kosovo.

"Of course, there is a concern that some other countries might recognize the independence of so-called Kosovo. I'm primarily referring to five EU member states – Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Greece, and Cyprus. There were insinuations in the past four years that Greece might recognize the independence of so-called Kosovo, but fortunately, that has not happened. These EU member states are indeed waiting for the conclusion of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but given that this is something that will clearly take a long time, I believe they will not change their positions, as they themselves have several internal problems related to the secessionist ambitions of certain parts of their countries. In defending international law and the interests of Serbia, they are also defending themselves," Petrovic said.

He points out that during the vote on the Srebrenica Resolution at the United Nations, it became evident that the countries that do not recognize Kosovo voted against, abstained, or did not attend the session, in 99% of the cases.

"Many of these countries are using examples like this, including the recognition or non-recognition of Kosovo, to show the collective West – specifically the Western power centers – that they are no longer willing to follow a subservient policy toward it. This applies primarily to almost all African countries, but also a significant portion of Latin America and much of Asia. It is also important to note the significant role of Russian and likely Chinese diplomacy in defending Serbia's national interests on the international stage. The votes of these countries against Kosovo's independence or against resolutions like the one on Srebrenica often influence how other countries around the world vote, as was the case, for example, with former Yugoslavia, which many Non-Aligned Movement members followed in international votes," Petrovic explained.

He is also convinced that the process of withdrawing recognitions is not over.

"I am absolutely convinced that there are still a few countries that could withdraw their recognition of so-called Kosovo. Based on the experience of countries that have already done so – primarily Caribbean countries – we know that the governments of those countries recognized so-called Kosovo without being sufficiently informed about the situation or what exactly they were recognizing. Some of them received symbolic financial assistance from the regime in Pristina, but Serbia managed to convince them that they made a mistake and needed to correct it," Petrovic said.

He adds that the fact that Kosovo has not received any new recognitions in the past four years is a major diplomatic victory for Serbia, and the withdrawal of recognitions also works in its favor. He says the only comparable situation is with Chinese diplomacy regarding the derecognition of Taiwan.

Kosovo’s most recent recognition came from Israel on September 4, 2020, and diplomatic relations were established on February 1, 2021.