Kosovo and the Western Balkans Region

Lord Peach Excerpts

Tuesday 6th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Peach (CB)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the western Balkans. I very much support the Minister. As a frequent visitor to the region, I assure noble Lords that the United Kingdom’s role there is appreciated; we just do not always advertise it on Twitter.

We should thank our allies in NATO for keeping the peace for over 20 years. The quality of our contribution remains important. It is critical now to stop the violence and to de-escalate. We continue to support normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia, which takes many forms, and again we call for the Kosovo Serbs to be readmitted into security structures, particularly the police.

We must break the cycle of violence in the Balkans. We need to be alert, as a noble Lord has said, to the risk posed by Russia, exploiting the region as a second front through warfare by other means.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, there is little that I can add to the words of the noble and gallant Lord apart from thanking him for the incredible role that he plays on the ground. I believe that he has made four visits in the recent past to Kosovo. I agree with him that the United Kingdom has stood side by side with Kosovo as it seeks to find its place in the international world, and we continue to campaign for its global recognition as an independent nation. However, I also agree that we must ensure that what happened in the past is not repeated.