What Kosovo needs
Fitim Gashi of Pristina daily Koha Ditore asked some questions last week. I replied:
Q: Kosovo is facing numerous discontents as objections about the demarcation of the border with Montenegro and the Association of Serbian Municipalities, wiretapping scandal, the high level of corruption, lack of security. Can accumulation of many problems over the years bring Kosovo to any dissatisfaction and unrest?
A: Sure: dissatisfaction and unrest are possible in any democratic society. We are seeing a lot of those sentiments in the US at the moment. But there is no excuse for violence.
Q: Which are the biggest failures that brought Kosovo to the currently situation?
A: Kosovo faces two anti-constitutional political constituencies: one among the Serbs, some of whom want to return Kosovo (or at least themselves) to Serbia, and one among Albanians who want the option of union with Albania. These are two big challenges to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kosovo state, which is new and still unseasoned. I think the state will meet the challenge, and that in fact its struggle with these anti-constitutional forces will strengthen it. But that is hard to see through the fog of tear gas.
Q: Largest opposition, “Levizja Vetevendosje,” has called a protest on the day when the Kosovo parliament is going to vote the agreement with Montenegro, to set the border. Can the situation change through protests?
A: Sure. I think peaceful protests might have a big impact on how members of parliament see the situation. But violent protests are counter-productive from the perspective of Vetevendosje, which is risking big losses at the polls. I hope the border agreement will be approved, but that won’t settle anything since Vetevendosje will continue its efforts to undermine the Kosovo state.
Q: The dialogue with Serbia has consistently followed the path of state building. Integration of Serbs into Kosovo system has not fully happened and is not revealing the fate of missing persons. Did this dialogue give the expected results?
A: The dialogue has achieved a lot of results in many areas, but it is still far from resolving everything. The reason Vetevendosje opposes the dialogue is precisely because it has been successful in consolidating Kosovo statehood, which Vetevendosje opposes.
Q: Is the international community responsible for the situation in Kosovo? If yes, which is their fault?
A: The international community has spent a lot of resources and effort in Kosovo, including by writing the constitution, so I suppose you can blame anything that goes wrong on them. But Kosovo’s problems today are largely internal ones that lie entirely within the purview of its own parliament, courts and government. The internationals are now responsible mainly for Kosovo’s external security, which they guard well. I regard the fact that Kosovo’s institutions are now responsible for resolving the country’s problems as success, not failure.
That didn’t satisfy Fitim, so he sent some more questions and I again tried to answer:
Q: Does Kosovo need to change something in the way of doing dialogue with Serbia. Our government has admitted that there are problems with the integration of Serbs and extinguishing parallel structures?
A: I am glad it is recognized that integration and extinguishing the parallel structures are closely related. Until now, Pristina has insisted mainly on the latter. I am sympathetic with that effort, but I think it arguable that integration has been neglected.
Q: Serbs continued to request the establishment of the Association, which the opposition sees as a danger to the creation of a special entity in Kosovo (something like in Bosnia and Herzegovina). What care should be taken in this regard?
A: The Constitutional Court has given appropriate guidance on this issue. The Association in my view is the worst part of the Ahtisaari plan, from the point of view of the Pristina authorities. But following the Constitutional Court’s guidance will prevent the formation of a Serb “entity” and ensure that it [the Association] complies with Kosovo’s Constitution.
There are in any event important differences of interest between Serbs north and south of the Ibar as well as differences between larger and smaller communities. If Serbs remain safe and secure in Kosovo, Belgrade’s concerns will decline, allowing these different perspectives to emerge.
That said, it is also important for the citizens of Kosovo to do their best to overcome the barriers between Serbs and Albanians. The current level of segregation between the two communities hinders communication, commerce, understanding, and cross-ethnic politics. If every Albanian in Kosovo reached out to make a single Serb friend, it would do a lot for integration. Citizen diplomacy matters.
In Belgrade this spring I ran into Slobodan Petrovic and Ahmet Shala, who had driven from Pristina together for a Prayer Breakfast meeting. I was pleased to see the good rapport between them, despite of course many differences. More of that is needed.
Q: Kosovo until now has offered a lot of rights for Serbs, including decentralization of political power. Do you consider that Kosovo must do more in this direction?
A: Kosovo has done a lot, and I don’t think it has harmed the Kosovo state at all. My sense is that the municipal level of governance and citizen participation is pretty healthy. The Association is the only thing Kosovo is still obligated to do, so far as I know. But as I said gaps between the communities can be overcome if individual citizens and NGOs make the effort.
Q: Do you think that Kosovo suffers with the lack of activism by citizens to change the current situation?
A: Yes, I do. I see lots of people in the street demonstrating against an agreement with Montenegro that will have no visible effect on their lives, but few of those people are making sure that Serbs and other non-Albanians feel welcome in their communities.
Q: Until now we have seen that citizens don’t participate a lot in protests to change the situation in favor of fighting corruption and request economic development, which does Kosovo need more?
A: So far as corruption is concerned, there have been some important prosecutions, but many things are still lacking: public pressure, courageous journalists, intrepid judges and prosecutors, politicians committed to ending impunity. The opposite of corruption is not anti-corruption. It is good governance. That’s what Kosovo needs.
Q: What mechanisms should be set into action to turn the country into the right direction, especially strengthen the rule of law and fight organized crime and corruption?
A: You know better than I do. Each country has its own political culture. Changing it is best the work of its citizens, not the foreigners. I spent many years as an American diplomat in Italy, during an intense fight there against the mafia, led principally by Italian investigators, prosecutors, and judges. The Americans helped with intelligence and witness protection, but they wouldn’t have been successful without the Italian judicial system taking the lead. Nor did even those courageous efforts fix the problem 100%. The Italians are still battling, 25 years later!
No foreigner has a magic wand. But determined judicial, political, legislative and public efforts designed by Kosovo’s citizens can win the day.
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