The strained relationship between EU and US diplomatic envoys to Kosovo continues to slowly pull itself apart, and yesterday that tendency manifested itself in a Twitter feud.
On June 19, European Parliament Rapporteur for Kosovo Viola von Cramon tweeted her doubts regarding US Special Envoy Richard Grenell’s claim that the idea of a territorial exchange between Serbia and Kosovo was former US National Security Advisor John Bolton’s, and was not supported by President Donald Trump. She chided Grenell for “telling people these stories” and advised him to “start finally being serious about Foreign Policy.”
Von Cramon’s tweet was also in response to Pristina mayor Shpend Ahmeti’s claim that when he was the head of Kosovo’s negotiating team, “no US rep. Has ever mentioned land swap.”
To a reply to her tweet, that claimed “at least Grenell is trying to do something,” and accused the EU of empty promises, von Cramon replied wondering where the results from Grenell’s agreements between the two countries, including airlines and railways connecting the two, were.
In turn, Grenell tweeted at von Cramon to stop “criticizing everything the Trump administration does to help normalize the economies of Kosovo and Serbia,” and concentrating on bringing about visa liberalization for Kosovo, the EU’s promise to the country. The European Parliament Rapporteur responded that visa liberalization was not up to the EP but to the Council of Europe.
Meanwhile, on June 19, Kosovo’s newly appointed Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti spoke with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi to discuss resuming dialogue with Serbia and the visa liberalization process.
