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Belgrade Should Appeal to the EU to Grant Kosovo Visa Liberalization

Politiko 23 Korrik 2019, 11:16

Belgrade Should Appeal to the EU to Grant Kosovo Visa Liberalization

“It is high time for more concrete moves towards the drawing together of the Serbs and Albanians. The authorities in Belgrade and Pristina fear such moves since their rating is more important to them than how the citizens live. From them, one cannot expect to draw brave moves, and they lack the capacity for long-term and visionary decisions. Their mantra is to maintain a conflict of low intensity, to sow discord between the people, and preserve cooperation for personal interests. That is the Balkan recipe for short-term successes for politicians and long-term tragedies for the citizens”, writes journalist Milivoje Mihajlovic on the KoSSev site. Mihajlovic was the editor-in-chief of Radio Pristina, the director of Radio Belgrade and the chief of the Office for cooperation with the media with the Serbian government.

“The Serbs and Albanians have inflicted a lot of evil on each other. We have always attempted to move towards the future, by looking in the rear-view mirror. We have a lot of times sought for solutions, without wanting to find them, and placed the blame on the other side. (...)

“The history of Serb-Albanian relations is in fact a list of mutual cyclical manifestations of violence and revenge. Ethnic, religious, cultural differences were always more important than the similarities which a joint-life brought. (...)

“Hatred is a disorder or disease and in psychiatry, it is, among other methods, also treated by the therapy of changing one’s behavior. It is time, therefore, for this therapy.

“Belgrade could say, set in motion a serious Balkan initiative whose goal would be to seek from the institutions of the European Union, visa liberalization for all the citizens of Kosovo. Freedom of movement is a civil matter and it is clear that the citizens of Kosovo (notwithstanding their nationality) are living in a ghetto. I believe that the other countries in the region would also accept this initiative, but it would be medicinal for Belgrade to initiate it. I am aware, of course, that there are hotheads on both sides of the Ibar [river] who would be strongly opposed to this initiative. I know as well that there are those nut cases who would rejoice in the visa liberalization for Kosovo since for them that would mean that ‘all the Albanians would move to the West, and Kosovo would be left to us’. In the Kosovo political establishment, there are also a lot of those who would not like this idea. The majority of Kosovo ministers and MPs have Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Croatian passports and even some of the EU countries, and even Serbia... and they have no problem with the visa regime. I know that there are also those important European centers who wouldn’t dream of doing it since they are profiting from this our unfortunate conflict. However, I am certain that this would be a serious step towards implementing the therapy of changing behavior. (...)

“‘The cure’ from Europe could, instead of empty promises of a European future of the region, be that Brussels (with the existing mandate of the international intermediary or protector) also establish and supervise serious cooperation of the security systems of Belgrade and Pristina. An efficient fight against regional crime would remove many irregularities in the Serbian-Albanian relations. For, hatred is the excuse for the rule of crime and institutional corruption. For a start, the international forces could finally put a stop to that infamous Balkan heroin route. Naturally, if the international mafia which controls the smuggling channels allows them to do so. I am certain that this would also resolve major political problems in the region. In any case, this would be beneficial for the citizens, and considerably improve security and strengthen stability.

I believe that this could be the beginning of the path of reconciliation (...)”, Milivoje Mihajlovic writes.