Skender Perteshi from the Institute for Security and Resilience has said that the West is not being fair to the countries of the Western Balkans, with the "too soft" approach it is showing towards Serbia.
He stated in "Interaktiv" that Serbia's approach has always been against Kosovo, to interpret its decisions as decisions against the Serbs, as pressure or violence against them.
"Due to geopolitical changes, the tendency of Russia and China to include Serbia in their agenda has caused the West to not be very correct in its foreign policy towards the countries of the Western Balkans. With a very soft approach, they are trying to keep Serbia towards the West, and this at the cost of several countries in the Balkans - Kosovo, Bosnia and Montenegro", he said.
Perteshi added that the countries of the Western Balkans have increased their budgets in the defense sector with the aim of buying weapons.
"In the case of Kosovo, in the year 2021 to 2023, we have 200 million euros for the purchase of weapons. Albania has also bought. Croatia and Serbia also have budgets over 1 billion euros", he said, adding that the increase in security risks has also increased the need for better coping with those risks.
"It is not that Kosovo wants to buy weapons. But compared to the countries of the region, it has the smallest military budget".
He emphasized that he does not believe that in the Western Balkans there will be a conflict at the level of the one in Ukraine or the Middle East. And, as far as NATO is concerned, he said that Kosovo is hindered by countries that do not recognize it and that have a critical attitude towards it.
"Kosovo must fulfill its duties first to be a worthy partner of NATO. Within NATO, there are four countries that do not recognize Kosovo and that have a very critical attitude towards Kosovo".
Perteshi said that it would suit him best in Kosovo if the voluntary military service would be operationalized. Meanwhile, he does not see the departure of the military as disturbing and says that it is a trend that occurs everywhere in the world in an attempt to find a better life.
