Reeker: Dialogue yielded results when both sides wanted it to work

Retired US diplomat Philip Reeker points out that if the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia was successful and yielded results, it was because both sides wanted it to succeed and because they left emotional reactions aside and reached an agreement that could provide a better life and opportunities to citizens.

In Pristina, at the conference of the Balkans group "Dialogue with Serbia: Lessons from the past for the future of the process", Reeker said that it was diplomacy that made a difference, the one that helped people reach a compromise that would enable people to live better.

"The US is proud to be a part of the dialogue," Reeker said, indicating that Pristina had changed a lot compared to the period when he had first visited it, which had been, as he stated, more than a decade ago.

Reeker says that at the very beginning of the dialogue, some did not want the US presence in the process, and in that sense, he said that the first time he had traveled to Brussels for this reason, he had been told to sit outside the table, that is, "in a corner."

"At the end of the conversation, they asked me about Washington's ideas and views on that process, and then they invited me to the dialogue table," he added and pointed out that if leaders wanted to enable their countries and citizens to progress, they had to be ready to make difficult decisions.

He states that the European Union is the best example of what kind of decisions leaders should make, given that, as he adds, the European bloc was formed for the benefit of citizens, overcoming the differences that exist between the 27 member states.

Commenting on the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia that was reached in 2013, Reeker says that what happened 10 years ago showed what can be done.

Stating that despite the fact that he had recently retired, he was still very interested in the events in the Western Balkans, Reeker announced that he would participate in a conference held in Belgrade next month.

The conference in Pristina was attended by the former High Representative of the European Union for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, who is also one of the speakers, as well as the US Ambassador in Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, the President of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo Affairs Enver Hoxhaj.