14:07 - Optimism for the long term, Juhas

Publication: Tanjug Daily News
Date: November 16, 2007 (13:05)


BUDAPEST, Nov 15 (Tanjug) - Hungarian historian Jozef Juhas, who is considered to be the greatest expert for the Balkans in the country, believes that conflict situations in the region can be resolved only by the accession of the Western Balkans into the European Union. From a short term perspective, I am quite a pessimist, but in the long term I am confident that the entire Balkans, in the EU's fold, will succeed to overcome traumas from the past and turn to a better future, just as Hungary had done following the Trianon accord in 1920, the Balkans expert told Tanjug. In his opinion, the great powers, first and foremost the United States, have been postponing since 1999 a solution to the status of Kosovo, and they have assessed now that further delay would be counterproductive. Western countries want to put an end to an intractable problem, and they are proceeding from the position that ethnic Albanians are "inside the property" and that they potentially represent a greater danger to peace in the region than Serbs, and that it was opportune to fulfill their demands, said the 52-year-old assistant professor at Budapest University. "Perhaps Albanians in Kosovo will not get everything they are demanding, but, I have learned that their expectations will for the greatest part be fulfilled."