radio free europe
November 05, 2010
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon recently returned from a trip to Russia, Poland, and Germany, and later this month will be in Lisbon for the NATO summit and NATO-Russia Council meeting.
He sat down with RFE/RL's Washington correspondent Heather Maher for a wide-ranging interview on developments in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Russia.
Gordon commented extensively on the U.S. position on everything from the jailed bloggers in Azerbaijan to Ukraine's improving relationship with Moscow, Georgia's right to territorial sovereignty, to Russia's role in brokering a deal over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Deadlock In Bosnia
RFE/RL: You were just in Bosnia-Herzegovina with Secretary Clinton. The situation there, as you know, is quite volatile. There's a stalemate over reforms that are opposed by Republika Srpska. The recent U.S. and EU efforts to encourage the reform process failed and political parties are now bickering over the creation of a new government. What is the U.S. strategy to help Bosnia out of this deadlock?
Gordon: We remain very much engaged in Bosnia and that's why the secretary wanted to go there, and to deliver that message directly to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina; [to say] that we support them as a functioning state, as a sovereign state. The United States has invested a lot in Bosnia-Herzegovina over the years and there was significant progress for the first decade or so after the Dayton agreement.
But it has stalled, you called it a "stalemate" and that's what it has been. We lent our support for a [NATO] Membership Action Plan in Bosnia and made clear that for that process to begin, they would have to resolve to issue of defense property that they still haven't sorted out more than 15 years after the war.
We believe that modest constitutional reform is necessary, not least to put Bosnia on a path towards potential EU membership, and what the secretary communicated is that we will continue to stand by Bosnia but they have to do some work themselves, and squabbling among political leaders is not going to get them where they need to go.
So there was just an election. There were some positive signs, with moderates doing reasonably well, some changes to the tri-presidency, and we're hopeful that in this new alignment, leaders will understand that Bosnia and Herzegovina's future as a whole depends on them getting together and making some of these reforms, resolving the issue of state property and defense property, and getting on the path to the European Union, that's the way to serve their people, rather than just representing their ethnic entities.
RFE/RL: Kosovo and Serbia are preparing for talks on pragmatic governance issues -- will the United States play any role in brokering these talks and if so, what outcome are you looking for?Gordon:
What the UN General Assembly agreed to was EU-facilitated talks between Kosovo and Serbia. We supported that, we voted for the resolution, we think the EU is well placed to facilitate those talks. Both Serbia and Kosovo want to join the EU, we support both of them joining the EU when they meet the criteria. We've also said we expect to be and are ready to be involved. We have strong relationships with both Serbia and Kosovo, we have something to offer. And while the EU will be facilitating the talks, we are ready to play a constructive role, as well.
radio free europe
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