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Defense Minister Lambrecht in Belgrade: Tightly timed Balkan trip
Photo: ANDREJ CUKIC / EPA
Christine Lambrecht does not have much time on her trip to the Balkans.
The defense minister planned only two days for her crisis trip through three countries in the so-called Western Balkans.
As a result, the minister and her delegation rushed from appointment to appointment in columns of vehicles and their VIP plane.
From Bosnia we go straight to Serbia, and from there to Kosovo.
The minister's schedule is so tight that the trip feels like diplomatic speed dating.
The minister's trip illustrates the German government's acute concern that, 30 years after the Yugoslav war, the Balkans could again be reeling into a serious crisis or even into an armed conflict between the ethnic groups.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was here just a few weeks ago.
Then this week, Chancellor Scholz invited the heads of government of Serbia and Kosovo to the chancellery for talks on the crisis.
There is no shortage of horror scenarios for the Balkans.
It is feared that Russia will use its influence to torpedo the painstakingly nurtured peace order in the crisis region based on the Ukraine model, and thus first destabilize Bosnia and then the entire region.
In addition, Serbia has a head of government, President Aleksandar Vucic, who quite openly flirts with Russia, but at the same time is negotiating with the EU about Serbia's rapid accession to the EU.
Lambrecht's trip started in Bosnia.
There, in the majority Serbian republic, the Republika Srpska, a secession from Bosnia has been propagated for a long time with the active support of Moscow.
The developments are strikingly reminiscent of the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine: the laws and legal acts enacted in Sarajevo are increasingly being ignored and people even want to set up their own army.
Things started similarly in Luhansk and Donetsk.
Concerns about an escalation in Bosnia have also alarmed the EU mission "Altea", which has had a stabilization force on site for many years.
In February, due to possible tensions, Altea activated several combat companies and sent them to Bosnia.
Foreign Minister Baerbock is already raising the question in Berlin as to whether the Bundeswehr, which has not been involved in the EU mission since 2012, should also send one or even two companies to Bosnia this year.
Lambrecht, meanwhile, was cautious in Sarajevo.
Alongside her counterpart Sifet Podzic, she advocated a continuation of the European military mission to stabilize the country.
When it came to the question of a Bundeswehr mission, however, the minister deliberately remained vague.
Your military doubts whether the return of the Bundeswehr makes sense.
In any case, Lambrecht's counterpart Podzic is said not to have addressed the issue behind closed doors.
"Reliable partner for Serbia's accession process"
The military department is puzzling over who actually raised the question of a new Bundeswehr mission in Bosnia.
According to the military, the EU troops have several battalions at their disposal for emergencies, which would mean several thousand additional soldiers.
The Bundeswehr is not on these emergency lists.
Lambrecht therefore met the Austrian Eufor commander in Sarajevo, but the reporters who were traveling with him were not allowed to go to Camp Butmir.
The problems in the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo are just as pressing.
Kosovo, which is predominantly inhabited by Albanians, broke away from Serbia in 1999 after a bloody war.
In 2008 Pristina declared its own independence.
To date, Serbia has not recognized this sovereignty, instead continuing to lay claim to the territory of Kosovo.
The dispute continues to smolder and, according to observers, could escalate at any time.
The federal government would be only too happy to take a step forward in the conflict.
This is one of the reasons why Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited the two presidents to a kind of crisis summit in the Chancellery this week.
Behind closed doors he must have made them a fairly simple offer.
Without an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, at least that is the view of Berlin, both countries have no chance of the desired rapid admission to the EU.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing conflict has become more pressing than ever.
In the past, Belgrade has demonstratively maintained good relations with Russia, and pro-Russian demonstrations broke out after the war began.
If Serbia were to side with Russia out of frustration at the faltering EU accession, the fear is that Moscow would have an ally who could then influence and destabilize the entire region in the interests of the Kremlin.
No concrete results
As a result, Lambrecht clearly demanded in Belgrade that the autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic should finally move.
Berlin is a "reliable partner for Serbia's accession process," said Lambrecht.
The prerequisite, however, is that the Kosovo question is finally resolved.
Vukic, who after all had supported the condemnation of the Russian war of aggression, made no concrete commitments.
On Friday, however, he wants to give an important speech to the nation.
How close the ties to Russia are to this day only became clearer when the journalists asked questions.
Vukic described in detail that the NATO intervention against his country in 1998 was also a breach of international law, and one shouldn't forget that.
This is exactly the view Moscow has taken for many years when it comes to criticizing NATO and the West.
Vukic then mentioned that 82 children had died in the NATO bombings.
Lambrecht was not able to bring any concrete results with him after the two days in the Balkans, but this was not to be expected either.
At her last meeting in Pristina, she said several times that she was hoping for "new impetus" in the talks on the status of Kosovo.
Chancellor Scholz also wants to come to the region soon.
But the chancellor, as is the way of diplomacy, will only come if there is a real breakthrough.