"Only America interested in Kosovo, Merkel is dropping out"

That's according to Daniel Hamilton, an expert at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

According to Voice of America, this prominent connoisseur of European circumstances, is also not convinced that Washington, and even the European capitals will make enough effort to speed up the process of Euro-Atlantic integration of the remaining Western Balkan countries.

Hamilton, who, with to his harsh estimates, stands out from other balkanologists, says the United States under President Trump has no time to deal with the region.

According to him, things are not much better with the European bloc, where Chancellor Merkel has been trying to do more for the region over the past few years, but has recently been giving up up on it.

In the meantime, the impact of non-European countries has been strengthened, he told Voice of America.

"And not only Russian influence, including the influence of the state, but also of Russian organized crime. The Chinese are also unusually ambitious in investing in Europe. Islamic countries have made a significant impact in Bosnia and other parts of the region. Turkey is also engaged for its own reasons, not always as part of the Western approach. In addition, political leaders in most countries are stealing from their own population and are using state levers to hold on to power," Hamilton said.