British military envoy, a clear message to the Balkans

The appointment of a special envoy for the Balkans by the British Prime Minister last week is a clear message to the Balkans and an alert of the fragile security situation in the Balkans. In response to this uncertain situation the UK appointed for the first time a special envoy for the Balkans. What makes it really special is the fact that the appointee is an experienced military officer.

The appointment was broadly welcomed. For the former Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs, Enver Hoxhaj, this was a great news, while alerted on the situation in the Western Balkans. “If UK reads our situation “as the biggest threat to their stability over two decades” than everybody should really be worried!,” alerted Hoxhaj on twitter.

British professor, James Ker Lindsay, said the appointment of Stuart Peach as Special Envoy for the Western Balkans is a clear sign the UK is concerned about security situation in the region. In an interview with GazetaExpress Lindsay said that the by appointing a special envoy the UK shows that it remains committed to developments in the Balkans even though it is no longer part of the EU.

“The appointment of a special envoy is clearly designed to show that, despite leaving the European Union, Britain remains fully committed to the developments in the Western Balkans,” Lindsay said.

The British expert further mentions the fact that the Special Envoy comes from the military and this clearly shows the concern that the United Kingdom is clearly concerned about the security environment in the region.

The Executive Director of the Forum for ethnic relations, Dusan Janjic, said that London is in a comfort seat to deliver a very clear message to everyone in the Balkans. He said the appointment is welcomed for the region and that the European Union should seriously think about its engagement in terms of the officials engaged.

Janic points out that the British Prime Minister said that the region is at risk of armed violence. “This is an opportunity to prevent that through diplomacy, negotiations and talks with local leaders. Here we have appointed personalities who can communicate with the current leaders and who have the appropriate arguments in those communications. It has to be very clearly expressed to them that Russia is not your option. If you want Russia, then your pat to the EU and NATO is closed. And that’s something the Brits can do best,” concludes Janjic.

He reminded that this is the first time that the UK is appointing a special envoy for the Western Balkans.