The Balkans: A forgotten conflict?

It’s been now almost 20 years since the beginning of the wars in the ex-Yugoslavia with the war in Slovenia, and 8 years since the end of the last armed conflicts there with the Southern Serbia and Macedonia conflicts. The Balkans question has now disappeared from the mainstream news – but is the confrontation actually finished. What is going on in the Balkans?

The Balkans: War and Peace tried to find some answers. Mirolad Ivanovic, deputy editor of the Serbian daily Blic, gave an interesting insight of the situation. He highlighted the international prejudice agains the Serbians, closely related to the Western misperception of the country. He said the difficulties for the Serbians to get visas is making them feeling isolated.

Sergio Vento, former Italian ambassador in Belgrade and Washington, warned about not taking into account the problems the region is going through. “Let’s not make the ‘financial’ mistake of ‘shortermism’, the fact that the Balkans don’t make the headlines is dangerous, the situation should be monitored.” He said the main problems the region are facing are organised crime and energy-related questions.

Barbara Gruber of La Stampa agreed: “The situation is still a crisis and we are not prepared to deal with it. Perhaps we’ve become more aware of the cultural differences inside each country but we’ve lost interest since the end of the armed conflict.”

Is there then a possibility for more confrontation? “There’s the chance of a further fragmentation in the region, of a further ‘balcanisation'”, Ivanovic concluded.

Jose M. Calatayud