The Vetëvendosje movement, through a press release, has commented on the strategy of the European Commission, entitled "A reliable perspective of expansion for increasing the EU's engagement with the Western Balkans".
VV says that this strategy serves to understand the path that the EU is setting for European integration for each of the six states of the Western Balkans.
According to this party, the strategy is an important document since the perspective for the membership of the Western Balkan countries, which has been addressed since 2000, and was reinforced in 2003 at the Thessaloniki Summit, is coming back to the EU's attention.
Although he found many negative assessments in this report, especially for Kosovo, VV also found a positive aspect, and that is "the proposal for the inclusion of the Western Balkan states in the technical committees and working groups of the European Commission".
"It is also worth mentioning that the proposal for the inclusion of the Western Balkan states in the technical committees and working groups of the European Commission is a positive step for the entire region", VV said in the analysis of the EU Enlargement Strategy.
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The Vetëvendosje movement says it has carefully analyzed this strategy, which has a more general approach for the region, as it is expected that the evaluation report for each of the six states will be made in April this year. Since the approach of this strategy is regional, VV says that it is worth evaluating first from this point of view, keeping in mind the advancement of our state and national interests.
"In February 2011, on the eve of the beginning of the dialogue with Serbia, the government of Kosovo, in order to justify this harmful dialogue for the country, declared that the path to European integration is through this dialogue. Now, after seven years, it was realized that through dialogue without conditions, apart from harmful concessions, there were no positive steps for Kosovo towards European integration. Through the dialogue, Kosovo paved the way for Serbia to integrate into the European Union, while the footnote was added to us and the word Republic was removed, thus not having a path through which we would walk as a state", says VV in her assessment of the strategy of EU enlargement in relation to Kosovo.
political subject says that many officials of the Republic of Kosovo present the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement as progress on the path of integration, while emphasizing that no matter how much that agreement is to be evaluated, even countries that are not located on the continent or that do not want to enter the EU, they already have such agreements.
"In the strategy that mentions the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, it is emphasized that 'Kosovo will benefit from a definitive agreement for the normalization of relations with Serbia', but it is not said what we will benefit from. There is no mention of the possibility of membership or even the possibility of applying for candidate status, even if the agreement is reached. However, in the case of Serbia, the normalization of relations with Kosovo is mentioned three times as a condition for integration and the concrete steps it must follow. Again, in no case is it explained what the word 'normalization' of relations with Serbia means, and a continuation of the dialogue is required without any clearly expressed objective regarding the recognition of independence that Serbia should do to the Republic of Kosovo. And, while this condition is not imposed on Serbia, the condition of the Special Court is added to Kosovo, an unprecedented Court in these two centuries, which turns the concept of justice upside down. Kosovo is mentioned two more times, but for the obligations it has in relation to the specialized Chambers (Special Court)", declares VV.
The Vetëvendosje movement estimates that this strategy in one aspect speaks for a closer cooperation and unification of many sectors between the six Balkan states. But in the other aspect, says VV, the strategy places these states in an unequal competition with each other, which turns a blind eye to the problems that Serbia has caused and continues to cause in the region.
"The strategy talks about the joint advancement of the entire region in processes like that of Berlin, in a cooperation of the entire region in terms of energy and transport, in the functionalization of a Regional Economic Zone, in the strengthening of the Council for Regional Cooperation, in a regional cooperation in issues of migration, security, the fight against terrorism, etc. All of these are elements that at first glance make you think that the European Commission aims to integrate the six EU states into a bloc. But, reading the strategy and following the statements of senior EU officials, it becomes clear to everyone that the six states of the region are divided into 4 categories", it is further stated in the evaluation of the Vetëvendosje Movement for the EU enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans.
VV then says that while the other states of the region are listed in the first 3 categories, Kosovo is in the last, even "using the footnote that continues to treat the declaration of our independence with ambiguity".
"As far as Kosovo is concerned, the Commission's strategy not only does not provide orientation for the date of membership, or to be a candidate country for membership, but it does not even give a signal that something like this will be possible without overcoming the obstacles that the Commission unfairly called 'objective'. So in the last two categories created by this strategy of the Commission, the two countries that have suffered and continue to suffer the greatest injustices in the region from Serbia, through Serbia's obstacles that are not at all objective, but are a concrete political plan, have been placed and economic destabilization of Serbia for the states of the region. So, always according to this strategy, it seems that the Commission estimates that this destabilizing country, Serbia, is the beginning of the European integration in the Balkans", this party declared.
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This EU approach to the Western Balkans, according to VV, is a very clear signal for Kosovo and Albanians in general.
We, says VV, must devise and structure an internal and regional policy, of Kosovo and Albania, to establish the weight we have and to realize the goals where we want to be, in the Western Balkans and towards the EU.
The Vetëvendosje movement adds that it has emphasized earlier that the dialogue with all national minorities in Kosovo should start as soon as possible, which will also be a dialogue with the Serbs of Kosovo, an open, democratic and social dialogue, from the bottom up, for development.
According to the VV, the 2011-2017 dialogue with Serbia was a closed and diplomatic dialogue, from top to bottom, without transparency and without accountability and that through this dialogue everyone will be seen as citizens of the Republic, in the professions they have social to which they belong.
"This is how trust is built and fear is removed, which is planted to divide and divide. National minorities must enjoy all their rights according to the standards of the member countries of the European Union. But most of the problems in our Republic are economic and social. We progress towards the EU by building values in our country. Internal consolidation is both appropriate and necessary. The governments of Kosovo should stop looking for the way to Brussels through Vučić and Belgrade", says the statement of the VV.
The Vetëvendosje movement, analyzing the new Expansion Strategy in the Western Balkans, says that this strategy finally officially recognizes the capture of the state that has occurred in the region, "especially in Kosovo, thus indicating what we have called an authoritarian regime installed in Kosovo".
"Furthermore, the strategy also affects the capture of the justice system and the media, as well as organized crime and corruption, and the weakening of public interests through the capture of private interests, which have certainly been created through the connection of political and economic oligarchic power," he says. VV.
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As for the economy, VV says that this strategy sees the region in general, and Albanians and Kosovo in particular, more as a consumer market of 18 million consumers, than as a productive economy.
"The region's negative trade balance with the EU becomes extreme in the case of Kosovo, where the ratio becomes 12 (imports) to 1 (exports). Such a negative trade balance not only destroys the potential of the domestic productive economy, but also deepens it if protective measures are not foreseen for Kosovo's domestic production, thus further increasing unemployment among all layers of society. Moreover, the subtext of this strategy regarding the continuation of privatization processes, does not take into account the need to investigate and take measures against the abusive privatizations that have already occurred in Kosovo and throughout the region. But, in other sectors, it is worth mentioning that the increase in financial assistance implied by this strategy for health, education and social protection should be considered with optimism and should be evaluated based on the breakdown of this assistance for Kosovo and other countries in the region according to the priority needs of each state", said the Vetevendosje Movement.
