Impressions from Kosovo: last week FMS visited Kosovo. Six years after its independence progress has been made with regard to EU integration and visa liberalization. In 2013 Belgrade and Pristina signed a historic deal mediated by Brussels, normalizing relations, opening their way towards EU integration and granting Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo broad powers in education, health care and spatial planning. The implementation of the deal on the ground remains a major challenge. Kosovo Police acting under the Kosovo law is now deployed in Serb controlled north Kosovo (a Serb commander has been appointed in the north and majority of police officers in north is Serb) but in north Mitrovica (Serbian part of the town Mitrovica) their presence is more of a decorative nature. One of the crucial aspects for the future of Kosovo, strengthening the rule of law, remains a major challenge. An important symbolic step forward has been made with the deal in Brussels, however Pristina and Belgrade tend to have different interpretation of the deal and therefore the implementation will take much more time in the Kosovo reality. The society is strongly divided among ethnic lines and people are much more concerned about jobs, power and water cuts (60% of water supply is lost due to leaking pipelines) then technical agreements that are difficult to implement. On a more positive note: the opening of the new campus building of International Business College Mitrovica (IBCM) is an outstanding example how professional education with internationally recognised bachelor degrees can bridge gaps between students and communities.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 10:07:50 +0000
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