Lilliputian in a Goliath World: the Preventive Diplomacy of Slovenia in Solving the Question of Kosovo's Independence
Lilliputian in a Goliath World: the Preventive Diplomacy of Slovenia in Solving the Question of Kosovo's Independence

Summary/Abstract: The goal of this article is to analyse the diplomatic activities of Slovenia, which as the presiding country of the EU Council had to deal with prevention of a potential renewal of armed conflict between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians during the most crucial period of Kosovo’s path to independence, when possibilities of a new escalation of violence were imminent (from the 1st July 2007 to the date of the declaration of independence). However, we argue that the preventive diplomacy of Slovenia was not a necessity only in the time of the declaration of independence of Kosovo, but it was widened until the end of the Brdo process, started by the Slovenian Government in 2010. This attempt of the Slovene Primer Minister Borut Pahor to bring political leaders from the region, including Kosovar, regularly at the common ‘negotiating table’ was diluted, but as seen from the preventive diplomacy point of view, it was a positive attempt to stabilise the region. However, the EU missed this opportunity and current affairs in the region show that still lots of work has to be done if the EU would like to stabilise the Serbia-Kosovo neighbourhood.

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