Negotiating Peace: Lessons from the Western Balkans

Selected Quotes

The Right Honourable Catherine Ashton, Baroness of Upholland

“We can’t do anything now unless we a) collaborate with each other, and b) end up trying to find solutions [...]. Let’s not do any of the bad stuff, let’s keep going with the sitting around the table, it’s what the European Union Project was all about: solving the problems by leaders coming together. It’s not easy, it's never going to be easy, but doing it through dialogue and discussion and diplomacy - not doing it through means that Europe has too often seen, which can be destructive and terrible and horrific. There is no other solution, all of these conflicts end up one day having to be resolved through diplomatic means.”

“I do think that if you project foreign affairs forward, then it is obvious that the countries of the region should be very firmly attached to the European Union and be part of that. But they also need to do better within themselves as well, the kind of cooperation, economic roles and so on. It’s not only about traffic towards the E.U. but it's also about how they relate to each other. And that affects how people feel about the place they live, the country they live, the region they live in, how proud they can be of their heritage by how much they feel part of a set of communities.”

Carl Bildt

“One of the lessons that was very clear to me [in 1995] is that you can’t heal a country if the international community is divided. It simply doesn’t work. Then, the situation became desperate from a number of points of view, primarily in the summer of 1995. That made it possible to heal the divisions across the Atlantic; there was a sense of desperation both in European capitals and in Washington that made it possible to come together, to merge a couple of different peace plans that had been on the table, and to watch for peace using the instruments available.”

“The Balkans is not as high up on the agenda of Washington as China is [...] and that has meant our leverage has decreased. I’ve always argued with the politicians of the region that they should be happy for the “Balkan Fatigue” because that means that they are no longer in an acute crisis, that they are becoming normal, and normal nations are not subject to high levels of attention by Washington or Brussels but it has been difficult for them to adjust [...]. It’s also difficult for Washington and Brussels to calibrate this, not to forget them completely but to continue a level of engagement that is necessary because they do have their challenges, they do need our attention. There are significant issues to be sorted out, and if they’re not sorted out, things could start to go wrong.”

“[Diplomacy] is absolutely imperative, be that in Brussels, be that in London, be that in Paris, or be that in Washington, diplomacy is absolutely essential. You can’t sort out the issues of the world with war, you have to try to sort it out with diplomacy [...]. There is a time for deterrence, there is a time for defense, but diplomacy has to be at the forefront of the effort.”

“I become pessimistic when I see how [the Balkans] have not been doing what I think they should be doing during these years. At the same time, it is a region of talent, no doubt. It is a region of assets, it is a region that is profoundly European. There is no real way why this should not be possible to sort out over time. But it requires some deeper European commitment by all of the political leaders of the region, and then we could be there and we should be there in order to be very strong in the support that we can give them. But, we can’t do it, they have to do it.”