The Bosnian political scientist, Jasmin Mujanovic, says that the former Slovenian president, Borut Pahor, is the most likely candidate to replace Miroslav Lajcak, in the position of the European Union’s special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. According to him, Pahor would be preferred by both sides and based on his experience would contribute to the dialogue process.

In an interview for KosovaPress, he criticizes the current mediator, Miroslav Lajcak, for not doing a good job in dialogue and for being biased. The Bosnian analyst emphasizes that the current dialogue has stalled due to the fault of Serbia, which does not implement the agreements reached. However, he adds that even the European Union has no leverage to move the process forward.

“We now are being told that Mister Pahor from Slovenia wants the job that he’s perhaps the most likely candidate. Certainly he would be preferable. Mr. Lajcak has done not a good job. There was a basic structural problem that he was coming from a non-recognizer country, I think that was deeply inappropriate to. He has demonstrated time and time again that he seems to have a bizarre degree of sympathy for Serbia in terms of all of these conversations. Just a few days ago, he had a meeting with Milorad Dodik from Bosnia, less than 24 hours after Dodik had said he’s prepared to secede from Bosnia Herzegovina, so he just lacks the credibility to be someone who can mediate this process. So at this point, I’m willing to say that virtually anyone would do a better job than Miroslav Lajcak has. But again, at the same time, any successor to Mr. Lajcak will have very few tools at their disposal, because the EU’s own credibility in terms of the Kosovo Serbia dialogue but the Western Balkans in general is deeply compromised because some of its own Member States have very, very problematic positions towards the region, Hungary first and foremost. So the EU itself, I think, is in a bad position and does not have a lot of leverage to move this process forward.” he says.

He points out that the fundamental problem in the dialogue is that Serbia is not ready to accept the sovereignty of Kosovo.

Speaking about the lack of implementation of the Brussels Basic Agreement and the Ohrid annex, Mujanovic says that it is currently going in the wrong direction.

As for Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe, the Bosnian analyst says that it is a real possibility, which would help Kosovo’s international consolidation.

During this week, Mujanovic stayed in Kosovo, where he was also received in a meeting by Prime Minister Albin Kurti.