Germany’s recently appointed Ambassador in Belgrade Thomas Schieb told N1 that official Berlin has not changed its stand on a possible demarcation between Serbia and Kosovo.
He said Germany’s stand on the issue has been clear for some time and added that other European countries and Serbia’s neighbours have been expressing reservations about the idea of demarcation.
Asked about Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Armistice Day commemoration in Paris, the ambassador said it was a good, long meeting at Merkel’s initiative. “It was a general exchange of views on political and economic issues”, including the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, he said.
Schieb said relations between Germany and Serbia did not deteriorate over Berlin’s opposition to demarcation as a way to solve the Kosovo problem. “I would say that it’s not secret that we have different views. That is the trait of a good partnership, having different stands and being able to discuss it but that does not mean the partnership suffers and relations grow colder,” he said.
He rejected the possibility of a change of stance on demarcation. “The Chancellor has clearly stated her stance on several occassions. There was speculation about whether Germany will change its stand but no, Germany’s stance remains what it has been for some time,” Ambassador Schieb said.
He said Berlin was concerned about the possible implications in the region following a change of borders or exchange of territories. “That could contribute to a solution to the Kosovo problem but it will open other problems in other parts of the region. We are very concerned that the drawing of new borders could upset the stability of the region if we draw new borders following all the conflicts in the region,” the ambassador said.
The German Ambassador claims that both – commissioner Johaness Han and Washington do not say „we are in favour of land swap“ but rather want to create a larger maneuvering space to both sides so that they could use it for a deal.
Instead, there are other important issues for discussion – property right issues, minority issues and church heritage, from which the attention was removed due to the land swap talks.
„So one gets an impression, we’ll just swap the lands a little bit and untie the Kosovo knot, but it is not correct and it is illusionary,“ he said.
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