Sputnik discussed Kosovo's political and economic well-being after a decade of self-proclaimed independence with Krenar Gashi, executive director of the Kosovar institute for policy research and development and a doctoral fellow at the Center for EU Studies at Ghent University.
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Krenar Gashi: If you have in mind how the atmosphere and the celebrations were 10 years ago when they declared independence, the enthusiasm, of course, was much higher, something that has been wearing off for the last 10 years, mainly over the introduced struggle that Kosovo has had both internally and externally to consolidate its status. If we want to compare the picture of day to day life in Kosovo, how it was 10 years ago and how it is now, then the situation has significantly improved, of course, the expectations of the people of Kosovo back then were much higher. No one at the time was thinking that 10 years in the new stage we would be still struggling with a macropolitical issue, no one ever thought that the economy would still be struggling, and especially no one really thought that 10 years after, Kosovo, would be so far away from the European Union in the integration plan. So there is a lot of small anxiety being gathered, we can see what we had as an expectation as people, but if you compare realistically speaking the situation, then, of course, it is totally uncomparable, 10 years after Kosovo is a whole different place and society is trying to enjoy and integrate the societal and political side of independence.
Sputnik: You've mentioned a lot of disappointment compared to what was expected, can you put your finger on the cause why the changes that people expected 10 years ago did not come to fruition?
Krenar Gashi: Well I think that international relations as a whole and the political sciences cannot but start from the so-called macropolitical picture of the world politics. As you know, Kosovo declared independence unilaterally, something which was not gone through the Security Council of the United Nations mainly owing to the Russian opposition, so the sort of statehood in the external, in the international point of view has been struggling to be consolidated. There was an active Serbian foreign policy to stop Kosovo's recognition, which has created an overall picture that Kosovo's still somehow a country in crisis. The aura of this crisis vanishes the moment that we leave the large foreign politics picture and we delve deeper into developments in Kosovo, but unfortunately, it is very well connected. For a small country with a struggling economy Kosovo is in desperate need of direct foreign investments for which the first and the immediate obstacle is, of course, the political situation, no one would invest in a country that is considered to be politically unstable, so it's a mixture of reasons but I will say that the macropolitical picture has been the biggest obstacle.
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Sputnik: You talked about political instability, what is the primary cause of this instability and has this gotten any better over the 10 years?
Krenar Gashi: It has. There has been a significant improvement especially through the EU associated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, you have to understand that the subcommunity in Kosovo has been actively adjusting the Kosovo institution and the declared independence and has been struggling to run a parallel system of their own, usually assisted by Serbia, but lately not so much. So what we've seen since 2013 is a slow, gradual, incremental change from this integration and well-being of Serbs which has been internally the biggest challenge for the Kosovo authorities. However, the political instability is also driven through the relations with Serbia and then it has spilled over into the perception of a growing anxiety amongst people, because we say 10 years on since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, we still depend so much on Serbia when it comes to international setting and the international relations of Kosovo. However, there is, of course, also an internal struggle, as every transitioning society we've been given this phenomenon which corruption and political clientelism and others, and which, I think, are a smaller factor to add to the political instability, but still, do play a role.
Sputnik: What do you think the chances are of normalizing relations between Pristina and Belgrade?
Krenar Gashi: If you look at the discord of the new text that the EU has put out as a strategy for enlargement, and especially if you look at the different versions of this text before the final one came through, then there is a sentiment that there is a consensus within the European Union to push for a final solution which would be a legally binding agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, however, the EU cannot really do it on its own so wider support of the international community is needed. The United States has been one of the strongest supporters of the Kosovo independence from the beginning, but for a sort of, groundbreaking deal which would once and for all close the war chapter between Kosovo and Serbia a wider consensus of the international community is needed. In terms of a time frame, I think the European Union is pushing really hard to conduct such a negotiation and to meet such a legally binding agreement by the end of this year or, at the latest, by the mid next year. So in this regard, there's a political shift both in Kosovo's and Serbia's political elite when it comes to normalizing relations, of course, they're not very optimistic when it comes to how such an agreement will be met, how it will be affecting the lives of the people, because you have to understand that Kosovo and Serbia were not even communicating with each other until a few years ago, so the implementation and the impact of such an agreement would take a little bit more time I think.
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Sputnik: A recent picture by The Guardian dubbed Kosovo as the 51st US state, what can you say about that? You've been talking a lot about the EU, what can you say about the remnants of US influence in Kosovo today?
Krenar Gashi: That's a good joke. We've been laughing at this ever since the war ended in 1999, that how we want to become the 51st state of the United States, however, the American foreign policy in Kosovo has changed quite a lot. During the Obama presidency, mainly, owing to other geopolitical interests of the US, the US foreign policy in Kosovo has been, sort of, stepping back, needless to say, the Americans are still an important factor in the foreign policy in Kosovo and especially in Kosovo's international relations, however, the leadership has been left mainly to the European Union, also having in mind that the European Union has this wider approach, a multidimensional approach and also a visional approach to the Western Balkans. When it comes to sentiment, the Kosovo Albanians are still, to this day, probably the most pro-American people in Europe, mainly owing to the fact and the perception during the wartime and especially the NATO intervention in Kosovo. However, the awareness of people regarding the international community and the role that they play when it comes to developing the country has been incrementally shifting and changing. Today, for example, the international community in general and especially the American Embassy, is no longer the key player when it comes to public policy and developments in Kosovo, they're a player, but no longer the key player, so I think it's still a good joke and to some extent it could stand, especially when put in a comparative perspective, but as a joke it's an exaggeration.
The views and opinions expressed by Krenar Gashi do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
