The EU faces a big test in the Balkans, and one of the burning issues there are the negotiations between Serbia and its former province Kosovo, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borell told Financial Times.

The former Spanish Foreign Minister told the Financial Times that if the EU does not stabilise the Balkans, it will be very difficult for the block to be considered a geopolitical power. He believes that nobody else will do this but the Europeans.

Speaking about Russia, Borrell said the EU should introduce sanctions against it over its use of Novichok nerve agent against Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny.

However, he noted that this should only be done if there is “clear evidence” that specific officials were involved.

He recalled the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK in 2018, adding that if the evidence is clear than the situation would be the same.

The Skripal poisoning then led the EU to introduce sanctions against four military intelligence officials, including the agency’s head and deputy's head.

Borrell believes that it is “up to the Germans” who identified the use of the nerve agent to decide whether to retaliate over the Navalny case by stopping the Nord Stream 2 project to pipe Russian gas to the country.