Edward P. Joseph, lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, has assessed that for Kosovo, NATO membership is currently a more important issue than integration into the United Nations.
Joseph participated in a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where the topic “Flashpoint: A Path Toward Stability in the Western Balkans” was discussed.
He was asked by Democratic Congressman Bill Keating about the role of U.S. assistance in regional stability and Kosovo’s future in the EU and NATO.
In his response, Joseph emphasized that the deadlock between Kosovo and Serbia can be resolved through Kosovo’s membership in NATO.
“A pathway toward NATO, even if only a pathway, would effectively end the blockade, because at that moment Serbia would have no alternative. Its derecognition campaign, its reliance on Russia and China in the UN Security Council, would lose all relevance.”
The American professor added that continued U.S. economic and military support for Kosovo is essential to American interests:
“We must remember that the U.S. and NATO already have the obligation and responsibility to guarantee Kosovo’s security through KFOR. Strengthening Kosovo’s economic and military security through bilateral relations directly serves our own security interests.”
