Page 54 - bne IntelliNews magazine February 2025

54 Opinion
bne February 2025
US president Donald Trump mulled annexing Greenland and Panama by force in violation of international law. BALKAN BLOG:
Trump’s annexation remarks risk
reigniting Balkan border disputes Clare Nuttall in Glasgow
Before even taking office, US President-elect Donald Trump caused alarm by discussing the annexation of Canada, Greenland and Panama. While these remarks were largely dismissed as unserious and met with mockery, the notion that the soon-to-be leader of the free world might support redrawing international borders – and moreover by force – could have serious repercussions.
These statements may resonate particularly strongly in the Balkans, where border disputes remain a volatile issue. The region’s history of ethnic conflict and territorial claims makes it acutely sensitive to any suggestion of redrawing boundaries.
Already, Bulgarian far-right politician Kostadin Kostadinov has seized on Trump’s comments to advocate for annexing parts of Ukraine and the whole of North Macedonia, demonstrating the dangerous ripple effects of such rhetoric.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among the global leaders to respond negatively to Trump’s comment, saying that "the inviolability of borders is a universal principle." Without
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naming Trump directly, Scholz’s remarks highlighted the unease felt in Europe.
“Borders must not be moved by force,” he said, drawing a parallel to Russia’s violation of this principle in Ukraine.
“The principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country, regardless of whether it lies to the east of us or the west, and every state must keep to it, regardless of whether it is a small country or a very powerful state,” he added.
Serbia-Kosovo land swap
After former Yugoslavia was torn apart by bloody ethnic wars in the 1990s, the spectre of border changes is not new to the Balkans.
Since then the issue has continued to be raised sporadically. Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, in particular, has repeatedly talked of the secession of Bosnia’s Serb entity and its potential unification with Serbia post-independence.