Zecevic: All five EU countries have deep motives for not recognizing Kosovo

Slobodan Zecevic, from the Institute for European Studies, tells us that, if it is true that Lajcak is lobbying for five countries to recognize Kosovo, then the EU institutions have left the status-neutral negotiation framework.

As Zecevic points out, "many things have fundamentally changed since Russia's intervention in Ukraine, it influenced and deformed many subsequent events and moves".

"The EU institutions are now representing the positions of France and Germany and are lobbying for their plan to be accepted. All five EU countries have deep reasons why they did not recognize Kosovo and are desperately fighting to resist the pressure, not only because they have a friendly attitude towards Serbia, but also because of their internal need for it", Zecevic believes.

The former head of diplomacy, Vladislav Jovanovic, said for "Novosti" newspaper that Serbia was being put under enormous pressure to agree to the European plan because the Western power centers were counting on that to loosen the position of the EU five which did not recognize Kosovo.

According to Jovanovic, "then it would be explained to them that Kosovo is a special case that even Serbia respects and that it cannot be repeated on these countries' territory."

"Spain is currently the hardest nut to crack, and Greece is the weak link, but it must not offer an alibi to Turkey for what it did to Cyprus if they would recognize Kosovo. On the other hand, it must also listen to the US because of the conflict it has with Ankara," Jovanovic says.