FRANCE’S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS KOSOVO: What future for cooperation? Policy Report No. 09/2014
Publisher: Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), Kosovo Date: May 2014 Volume: 25 pages, pdf Description France’s current involvement in Kosovo and the Western Balkans must be put into the historical perspective of its ties with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes prior to World War I and later on its engagement in former Yugoslavia. After the First World War, it became clear that France wanted to extend its interests and influence to the newly created States of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, mostly as a counter balance to German power in the region.2 France rapidly benefited from this image of elite civilization, and presented a model to which those new States should aspire.3 In the 1920’s French cultural diplomacy therefore emerged as a vector of soft power. French rapidly became the language of the intellectuals and ruling elite. Despite a weakening of Franco-Serbian ties in the 1930’s, foundations had nonetheless been laid for a long-term cultural and linguistic French influence in Yugoslavia. The current post-implosion repercussions of this relationship are of course multi-faceted. Throughout the Yugoslavia era, France had not only developed ties with Serbia, but also with all Yugoslav nations. For this reason, France still has a cultural and educational influence on several Balkans States, including Kosovo. French was the first foreign language studied by Kosovar students in school throughout the Yugoslav era, and is now often a common second language for Kosovars over the age of 35. Those historical ties have contributed to shaping the important cultural cooperation that exists between France and Kosovo today.