William Molinié, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: AFP
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7:41 a.m., May 31, 2023
On the sidelines of the Globsec forum in Bratislava, Slovakia, an annual conference on security in Eastern and Northern Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with Macedonian and Albanian Heads of State and Government to build a “conciliation dialogue”.
President Emmanuel Macron is expected this Wednesday in Bratislava, Slovakia for the Globsec forum, an annual conference on security in Eastern and Northern Europe. In addition to the war in Ukraine, the question of the Balkans will be invited into the discussions since this Monday, 19 Hungarian and 11 Italian soldiers were injured in clashes with Serb demonstrators in northern Kosovo. The Serbian army has also been placed on its highest level of alert and NATO has announced the dispatch of reinforcements.
This umpteenth outbreak of fever raises fears of a major crisis that Emmanuel Macron will try to put out by meeting the Macedonian and Albanian leaders. “All of this was rushed in view of the latest events,” reports the head of state’s entourage.
Europe does not have the means to face a new front
The French president had initially scheduled an interview with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, but late Tuesday afternoon he canceled his trip to Bratislava due to tensions in Kosovo. Belgrade, historical ally of Moscow, is a pro-Russian bastion in the heart of Europe. And while aspiring to enter the European Union, it continues to massively support Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
With the Balkans, Emmanuel Macron wants to build “a dialogue of conciliation”, maintains an adviser. Because the Old Continent does not have the means, after Ukraine, to face a new front. “Europe is under attack from all sides,” summed up a diplomat a few days ago. The danger would be to lock oneself in the “Ukrainian tunnel effect”, continues a military executive, and to forget the peripheral conflicts, such as those which oppose Kosovo to Serbia and Armenia to Azerbaijan. So many tools in the hands of Vladimir Putin to exploit the loopholes in European security.