Stability Theatre: Von der Leyen’s Gift to Vucic and Moscow

Von der Leyen’s platitudes reward Belgrade, scold Prishtina, and whatever the intent, serve Moscow’s script: blur culpability, bankroll dependency, and turn EU »stability« into strategic corrosion.

Ursula von der Leyen landed in Belgrade¹ and Prishtina² with the language of bromide diplomacy »peace, prosperity, solidarity«, »reliable partner«, »de-escalation«. It reads like a leaflet for a bank that’s already gone bust. In the Western Balkans, where euphemism is a currency of its own, this isn’t merely tone-deaf. It’s dangerous. Her message flatters a Serbian leadership that has spent two years tightening its embrace of Moscow, militarising at speed, and exporting instability into Kosovo, while telling the one government in the region that actually aligns with Europe’s values to take a breath and lower its voice. It is the moral geometry of appeasement, centre the aggressor, chide the target, call it balance.

Start with the record, not the rhetoric. Two years after the Banjska attack, when a well-armed Serb paramilitary unit killed Kosovo Police Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku and fought an all-day battle around a monastery, accountability remains lopsided. Kosovo’s Special Prosecutor has …