In recent days, Republican US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has created uncertainty about the strategy the new Trump administration is going to follow in the Balkan region. In a letter to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, Rohrabacher proposed “an exchange of territories that would result in a greater number of Serbs in Serbia and a greater number of Kosovars in Kosovo.” The exchange between the northern municipalities in Kosovo with a Serbian ethnic majority, and the Presheva valley in Southern Serbia where the majority is Albanian, was rejected by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić.
In an interview with Albanian tv channel Vizion Plus, Rohrabacher later suggested that Macedonia should be divided between Kosovo and Bulgaria, “or any other country to which they believe they are linked. He added, “In my opinion, Macedonia is not a state. I am sorry, but it is not a state.” The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has immediately demanded an explanation from the US State Department.
Congressman Rohrabacher is a former speech writer of former President Ronald Reagan and member of the US House Committee of Foreign Affairs and chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats. He claimed that he might have the ear of President Trump, and suggested that “changing the borders in the Balkans” would be on the Subcommittee’s agenda in the coming months.
Rohrabacher was also the instigator of the investigation of illegal “foreign” campaign donations to former President Barack Obama through Albanian–American Bilal Shehu, calling for a “full investigation” of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s precise role in the case.
