Kosovo solution looks remote as internationals bicker

Significance

The outcome of the meeting, called by Germany and France, was insubstantial, with Kosovo and Serbia agreeing only to play a ‘constructive’ role in taking forward an EU-led dialogue ahead of another gathering set for Paris in early July. Its real significance was to shine a spotlight on growing disarray within the Western alliance as leading member states promote separate and mutually contradictory policies towards Kosovo.

Impacts

• Despite Kosovo’s rapid GDP expansion (the IMF expects 4.2% growth in 2019), unemployment is high and structural reform slow.
• Bosnian Muslim politicians warn that Kosovo's partition along ethnic lines could precipitate a similar partition of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
• Outsiders’ disputes about how to resolve Kosovo will further strain worsening intra-EU relations and a creaking transatlantic alliance.