The US Atlantic Council’s report is a complete analysis of many challenges in the Balkans but it is not the new US strategy for the region. A new strategy isn’t needed at all. The only thing to do is to implement what was adopted in 2000 – that all countries in the region join NATO and the EU as quick as possible, Daniel Serwer, the professor at the John Hopkins University and expert on the Balkans, told Pobjeda.
Serwer said he agreed with large part of the report and that he supported the idea of a more active US approach to the Balkans, since the EU failed in resolving some key issues.
“I would be ready to consider permanent US military presence in the South-Eastern Europe. However, I couldn’t agree with The Bondsteel base in Kosovo being ideal for that purpose. It lacks the necessary 10,000 metres of runways for jets. Constructing a new airbase will be difficult, due to the terrain. But a new, bigger base won’t be required anyway, as the Aviano base in Italy is close enough,” Serwer said, adding that a US base should serve US purposes, which are mostly directed to the Middle East and North of Africa.
