Europe worries Trump may wreck chunk of Merkel’s legacy

Bloomberg

European Union diplomats are furious that President Donald Trump shut them out of talks between Serbia and Kosovo, fearing not only that EU interests will be sidelined but that the two countries’ long-term interests will suffer.
Three officials familiar with the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the Balkans said the transatlantic snub ignores years of EU efforts at reconciliation between the two sides and they suspect the main focus for
US Special Envoy Richard Grenell is delivering a quick win for his boss. Ahead of November elections, it could burnish his chances to be secretary of state in a second Trump term.
Cutting the EU out of the process now makes little sense because the countries’ prospects are bound up with their efforts to join the 27-nation bloc, the diplomats said.
The US intervention amounts to a diplomatic grab in an area previously occupied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spearheaded talks between
Serbia and Kosovo and championed EU expansion in the Balkans.
Grenell has built his international reputation on making life difficult for Merkel’s government. As US ambassador in Berlin until earlier this month, he was at the center of efforts to pressure Merkel on a range of topics from defense spending, Iran and trade to Germany’s relationship with Russia.
He came to be seen by many German officials as a symbol of the deteriorating transatlantic relationship.
Yet after years of largely failed EU efforts, Grenell’s new approach may break loose some progress, according to one US official who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations. The person said the EU has struggled to be effective since at least 2013 given that five of its member states still don’t recognise Kosovo’s sovereignty.
Grenell announced a June 27 White House meeting between the former wartime foes while the EU point person Miroslav Lajcak was en route to Kosovo in his own bid to jumpstart
negotiations.
Lajcak, the Slovak foreign minister who leads EU efforts on the issue, hasn’t been invited to the talks.
European Parliament’s standing rapporteurs for Kosovo and Serbia urged leaders from both sides to engage with Lajcak.
“There is no alternative to the European Union facilitated dialogue because both Serbia and Kosovo are European countries with a clear European perspective and both Serbia and Kosovo have committed to joining the EU,” they said in a statement.
The competing overtures underscore a growing chasm between the US and Europe, which is struggling to find its place in a world with China emerging
as a global superpower and
traditional ties with the US under Trump fraying.
Germany and France moved forward this week with a blueprint for the EU to boost its joint defense capabilities, just as Trump threatened to withdraw almost 10,000 US troops from Germany.
Losing control over Balkan negotiations would be a particular blow for Merkel, who has invested much time in the region. Over the weekend, the German Chancellery launched into a flurry of diplomacy between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Avdullah Hoti, Kosovo’s new prime minister, one envoy said.
The agreement to meet follows both sides suspending rival campaigns over the international recognition of Kosovo, which split unilaterally from Serbia in 2008 almost a decade after NATO bombing forced Serb troops out of its territory.
Serbia, which will hold elections on Sunday, insists Kosovo is its historic heartland and refuses to accept its secession.