You don't go to Brussels just for dialogue

The dialogue with Serbia, which has been going on for over ten years, has caused great damage to Kosovo, putting its citizenship into question, and has also created trauma. In Kosovo, it is thought that you go to Brussels only for dialogue. Therefore, Prime Minister Kurti's first visit to Brussels was mostly commented on in relation to the dialogue, even though he had many meetings that for the development of Kosovo and cooperation with the EU are much more important than the dialogue. Because the dialogue may or may not continue, it may produce an agreement, but it may also fail. Kosovo does not have the luxury of connecting the fate of its citizens with a dialogue that is neither clear about the past, nor the present, nor the future.

It is almost an unwritten rule that new governments in countries aiming for EU membership, as soon as they take office, choose Brussels as the first address for their first foreign visit. In this way, they convey the symbolic message of their commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration, to cooperation with NATO, in terms of security and with the EU in many fields. So did Albin Kurti, who together with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Donika Grvalla-Shwartz and Besnik Bislimin visited Brussels. They started it with the prime minister of Belgium, the important country of the EU where Kosovo also has its Embassy, ​​which also carries out work in relations with the EU, despite the fact that the EU and Kosovo formally do not have diplomatic relations. Then he meets the leaders of the three main EU institutions, through video link, the president of the Council, Charles Michel, then in a separate meeting the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Lyen, and later also the president of the European Parliament, David Sasolli. He also met the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. NATO, as it has done in previous times, announced this meeting without mentioning in what capacity the head of this organization was meeting Kurti. The message was that Stoltenberg met "a certain Albin Kurti from Kosovo", as he had previously also met "Isa Mustafa from Kosovo" or "Avdullah Hoti from Kosovo". We know that four NATO countries have not recognized Kosovo. We know that NATO is an organization based on consensus decisions. But it is ridiculous, and even insulting, to make fun of the head of an organization which is so deeply embedded in the hearts of Kosovars. In this way, the staff of the head of NATO is making a fool of itself, as was also seen through a post by the American Mission to NATO where they had to clarify the opinion that Stoltenberg met "the prime minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti". But even that meeting had its importance, because the new Government also has cooperation with NATO and the goal of membership as a strategic goal.

But Kurti had the largest number of meetings at the headquarters of the European Commission. With people whose name few have heard. And they are the main people who decide on the future of the EU, on the recovery after the pandemic, on the fate of finances. He met with the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. Almost half of the EU budget goes to these policies. Then with the Commissioner for Energy. This is one of the main policies in the EU now and in the future. He also met with the executive vice president for Finance, Valdis Dombrovsis, who is in charge of the fate of the billions of euros that will be made available to member countries. So, two mega-packages that in the next seven years go over 1800 billion euros. He also met with the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Verhelyi, who is in charge of relations with countries that are in the process of expansion, or expect to be part of it in the future, such as Kosovo. In all these meetings, the battle against the pandemic and the help that Kosovo expects from the EU in this regard were also discussed.

These commissioners represent the EU's most successful policies. Areas where the EU is the best in the world and for which Kosovo needs help. Because Kosovo is also facing challenges in rural development. The villages are being emptied and the experience and help of the EU are indispensable. Not only giving money, but also examples. The energy system in Kosovo is not even close to complying with EU legislation. In fact, Kosovo with its power plants pollutes and poisons its citizens more than it supplies them with energy. The European Commission's idea that countries like Kosovo adapt as much as possible to EU policies, regardless of what stage they are in the integration process, is one of the best ideas. Because in order to benefit from the policies of the EU, one should not only wait for the membership.

And then Kurti had a meeting with the high representative Borrell. It represents the EU's most failed policy. Common foreign and security policy. Policy where the EU is not only not approaching its economic power in the world, but is also failing to have clear attitudes. And being strong in the economy and weak in foreign policy, the EU ultimately pays the most. It is also the largest donor in the world for underdeveloped countries, for humanitarian aid, but it has not transferred this power to global political influence, because the EU's foreign policy is hesitant and unclear. Kosovo is the best example for this.

In these meetings, dialogue was mainly discussed. Because he is in the hands of Borrell and his team, which is one of the elements that does not give much reason to have hope.

Borrell did not hesitate this time to threaten Kosovo, saying that "its path will be blocked". He later clarified that he did not say that "Kosovo will be blocked", but that "the EU integration process will be blocked, as Kosovo needs international recognition". So, he once again connected the fate of Kosovo with the dialogue with Serbia. Surprisingly, he did not send this threat to Serbia a few days earlier. And if he had sent him, he would not have told the truth. Because Serbia, even without an agreement with Kosovo, has made a lot of progress in the process of European integration since the dialogue started. Incomparable progress with Kosovo, Serbia has liberalized visas, received candidate status, started negotiations and opened several chapters. Kosovo is not even at the beginning of the road yet. This is because it has not been recognized by five member states. And if you ask Borrelli, as well as his officials who deal with the dialogue, and the main role is played by those from the countries that have not recognized Kosovo, recognition can only come after Serbia does this. So there is not much difference between them and Russia's position.

regardless of this, Kosovo has no choice but to continue participating in the dialogue. It would be good to do this with more dignity than until now, with more clarity than in the past ten years. And to be ready to face even the failure of the dialogue. Because until now Kosovo was more at the service of dialogue than dialogue at the service of Kosovo. The dialogue only did damage, helped to withdraw recognitions (Serbia successfully used the dialogue to convince some countries that the status of Kosovo is not a closed issue and the EU did not react to this), encouraged Belgrade to demand major changes in the internal regulation of Kosovo, without recognizing Kosovo, and got nothing, not even the liberalization of visas, which should not even be related to the dialogue.

The dialogue with Serbia, which has been going on for over ten years, has caused great damage to Kosovo, putting its citizenship into question, and has also created trauma. In Kosovo, it is thought that you go to Brussels only for dialogue. Therefore, Prime Minister Kurti's first visit to Brussels was mostly commented on in relation to the dialogue, even though he had many meetings that for the development of Kosovo and for the cooperation with the EU are much more important than the dialogue. Because the dialogue may or may not continue, it may produce an agreement, but it may also fail. Kosovo does not have the luxury of connecting the fate of its citizens with a dialogue that is neither clear about the past, nor the present, nor the future.

But the problem with Kosovo is that the dialogue can be used for blackmail as well, because, if there is no dialogue, we are told in the EU, there will be no cooperation with the EU in other areas either. Because even the EU sees Kosovo only in the prism of dialogue. The dialogue has thus overshadowed many constructive, important and vital things for the citizens that can be done with the EU and that hardly penetrate the public opinion. And those are policies in which Kosovo has failed so far. It did not take into account the requirements and recommendations of the EU. Neither those for the fight against organized crime and corruption, nor for the protection of the environment, nor for the improvement of public administration, nor the judiciary, nor those for energy. Therefore, it will be important for the new Government to focus on cooperation with the EU in as many areas as possible, and not only to have dialogue as an obsession, but also as a justification for not doing anything in other areas.