Kosovo: ‘Young Europeans’

Thu, Feb 09 2012

Fri, Feb 19 2010 10:02 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

3347 Views 43 Comments

1 of 1

COUNT TO TWO: A billboard of a Kosovar child born on February 17 2008, the day when Kosovo declared independence, is pictured on a street in Pristina February 16 2010.

An advertisement on international news channels bills Kosovo as the "youngest European country" while, reportedly, Pristina has hired BBR Saatchi & Saatchi which came up with a "Kosovo – Young Europeans" campaign for the state that celebrated its second birthday on February 17.

For Serbia, of course, there is nothing to celebrate as Belgrade remains adamant as rejecting as illegitimate Kosovo’s 2008 unilateral declaration of independence, which it has challenged in international court.

For both Serbia and Kosovo, their intractable dispute has been holding them each back. Serbia may have made progress in its European Union membership aspirations, but while officially it’s denied that Kosovo will be a factor in this process, it is difficult to imagine how it could not be.

In Pristina, Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci said in an interview to mark two years since the declaration of independence that Kosovo had made progress in all areas, although the situation in the northern part of the country remained the main challenge.

In late January, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Lamberto Zannier told the UN Security Council that northern Kosovo remained a flashpoint amid continuing tensions between Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian communities there, despite a greater understanding over reconstruction of destroyed housing by the communities.

"Even this peace remains tenuous," Zannier said, noting that Kosovo Serbs recently had thrown stones and set a lorry ablaze when they thought Kosovo Albanians were building beyond what had been agreed in talks facilitated by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

"It is clear that UNMIK must continue to shepherd the reconstruction process and monitor the situation closely to ensure that all communities respect existing arrangements to preserve stability and that effective communication is maintained at all times," Zannier said, according to the UN News Service.
UNMIK administered Kosovo from 1999 when Nato forces drove out Yugoslav troops amid bloody ethnic fighting between Serbs and Albanians, but it gave up its administrative role in 2008 when Kosovo declared independence.

"Over the years we have learned that dealing with the situation in northern Kosovo requires sustained effort, constant engagement with the communities on the ground, and continuing consultation and coordination with all relevant actors," Zannier said.

Thaci, describing what he saw as Kosovo’s successes in its two years of independence, told InfoPress: "We have been recognised by 65 countries and have gained membership in several international organisations including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "We have established the necessary ministries and consolidated the Kosovo Security Force as well as the diplomatic service. We have organised our first local elections, which were assessed to have met the highest European standards," Thaci said.

For all his stated optimism, opposition parties – unsurprisingly – have been highly critical of the administration in Pristina, insisting that the economy is in dire need of strengthening, as that corruption is a serious problem, as are possibilities for European integration, territorial integrity, development of democracy, and prospects for further international recognitions.

Kosovo aspires to membership of UN, a move that Serbia has vowed to block, but which – in the words of Kosovo deputy prime minister Rame Manaj – Kosovo believes will be "accelerated" after the International Court of Justice delivers its opinion on the case initiated by Serbia.

Serbian president Boris Tadic, according to a report by Belgrade-based news agency Tanjug, earlier said that "without Serbia, the problem of the future status of Kosovo cannot be solved,"

In the end, a constructive, peaceful, sustainable, and bilaterally acceptable solution must be found, he said. After the International Court of Justice released its opinion, Serbia would decide what legal and diplomatic steps it would take, Tadic said, underlining that Belgrade would never accept the Martti Ahtisaari plan that opened the way for Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

(Ahtisaari remains a hero to Kosovo and has been decorated with its highest honours, while former US president Bill Clinton, revered for the Nato campaign against Belgrade, was in Pristina in November 2009 for the unveiling of a statue of him.)

"I deeply believe in negotiations and dialogue and other political obligations, in non-violent methods, a peaceful and rational process," Tadic said. "All who believe that another route exists are very wrong. Without negotiations and dialogue and a compromise by both sides, there is no solution," he said.

For Serbia, the Kosovo issue has brought blow after blow as a number of its neighbours and near-neighbours gave evidence in the International Court of Justice in favour of Kosovo independence. On the eve of the second anniversary of independence, media reports claimed that Greece would change its stance, which if true would reduce by one the number of EU states that have rejected Kosovo’s independence, to less than a handful.

In mid-January, UN Secretary-General Ban called on Serbia and Kosovo to find ways to put aside status considerations in the interest of pursuing regional co-operation.
"I urge flexibility in continuing to define a modus operandi with regard to Kosovo’s participation in regional and international mechanisms and forums that are essential to the economic and democratic development and the long-term stability of the region," he said in a report to the Security Council.

Kosovo’s problems are not confined to politics. From Pristina, news agency Reuters reported that "increasingly wary Western donors" were keen to wean the country from foreign aid and take more resolute steps to fight poverty, crime and corruption.

Kosovo, with a population of two million, is among the poorest in Europe, swallowing four billion euro in aid since the war with Belgrade ended in 1999. Deputy prime minister Hajredin Kuci told Reuters that Kosovo would need foreign donors for another three to five years, but said that "our aim is not to receive foreign aid for survival but assistance for economic development".