Surlic: Lajcak's successor will be chosen by France and Germany, Belgrade and Pristina won't have a say in that

According to Stefan Surlic, a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Borut Pahor would be more suitable for Pristina as a special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue than Miroslav Lajcak, given that he comes from a country that recognizes Kosovo. However, Surlic emphasizes that fundamentally nothing would change in the dialogue process in favor of Serbia if the mediator were from a country that does not recognize Kosovo's independence since their mandate implies implementing the policy of the majority of EU member states, which is oriented towards recognizing Kosovo.

Surlic notes that Pahor is presented as an ideal candidate primarily because he is familiar with the region, speaks Serbian well, and has previously shown interest in the Belgrade-Pristina relationship.

"Several essential reasons why Borut Pahor is presented as the ideal candidate are combined here. Firstly, he is someone who is familiar with the region, speaks Serbian well, and has shown interest in normalization topics before, during official visits to Belgrade. Secondly, it is interesting that Slovenian politicians see the continuation of their political careers precisely in dealing with the Balkans, despite emphasizing that Slovenia's foreign policy position is far from the Western Balkans," Surlic said for Kosovo Online.

The fact that Pahor comes from a country that has recognized independent Kosovo and that Slovenia's former president, Natasa Pirc Musar, recently visited Kosovo and met with Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani indicates that their stance will be in line with the position of the majority of EU member states, which is a process of normalizing relations, ultimately leading Serbia to accept the idea of Kosovo's independence.

Regarding whether negotiators from Belgrade and Pristina can influence or lobby for the selection of a mediator in the dialogue, Surlic says that the key word in this regard is still held by Germany and France.

"At this moment, they (Belgrade and Pristina) cannot do that. I believe that Germany and France are the key players in this matter, and these countries will decide who the ideal candidate is. They have several factors in mind, primarily the factor of someone who is knowledgeable about the region, who has previously shown interest in these topics, but also someone whom Belgrade and Pristina cannot influence directly. For this reason, I believe that Belgrade and Pristina cannot propose a specific name, but certainly, in this case, Pahor would be more suitable for Pristina than Lajcak, primarily because he comes from a country that has recognized Kosovo, unlike Lajcak, who comes from Slovakia, which did not recognize Kosovo's independence," said Surlic.

He believes that there is still no significant difference if the mediator in the dialogue comes from a country that recognizes or does not recognize independent Kosovo.

"Take, for example, Josep Borrell, who holds a much higher position, who comes from a country with a firm stance that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia and does not see any compromise on that issue but is leading a dialogue on normalization of relations, which actually implies requiring Serbia to de facto recognize independent Kosovo. Their mandate is given by all EU member states, with leading countries having the most say, primarily Germany, so there won't be any significant differences whether the new mediator comes from a recognizing or non-recognizing country," Surlic pointed out. He also reminded that the rapporteur for Kosovo in the Council of Europe, Dora Bakoyannis, lobbied and gave a positive report for Kosovo to become a member of the Council of Europe, despite coming from Greece.

Surlic assesses that the belief that politicians from countries that do not recognize Kosovo fundamentally change anything in favor of Serbia in the dialogue process is not accurate.

"They have their diplomatic careers in mind. Their mandate is given primarily by leading countries, and they recognize independent Kosovo. Therefore, we cannot expect any significant change in the policy of leading EU countries, including the mediator in the dialogue," Surlic concluded.