A wake-up call for Kosovo’s prime minister Kurti

He should have focused on much of what he promised to do if elected. This includes economic development, by attracting domestic and foreign investments to provide job opportunities and prevent the brain drain which is affecting every industry and eroding Kosovo's social fabric. In the first half of the year, the government spent only an abysmal 18 percent (€150 million) of its allocated €844 million budget for capital investments. The country's brain drain is growing; ten years ago 15,000-20,000 Kosovars left the country each year in search of better job opportunities, in the last five years, the number has nearly doubled to 30,000 per year.

Kurti also promised to improve the educational system by building new schools, increasing pay for teachers, and creating easy access to up-to-date textbooks; modernize much of the crumbling infrastructure; provide better and more affordable healthcare; improve housing conditions; and certainly, weed out corruption which allows officials to squander huge amounts of financial resources while engendering Kosovars' deep distrust towards their government.

Serbia's EU Bid

Fifth, although Vucic does not want to alienate Russia because of the aforementioned reasons, Vucic still wants Serbia to integrate into the EU. He knows that Serbia's future prosperity and growth rests with the EU and to achieve that, he will have to meet the EU's standards by fully adhering to democratic principles and human rights and elevating socio-economic conditions in the country. But recognizing Kosovo's independence remains a central condition for Serbia's admission into the EU.

Since the EU has a vested interest in admitting the Balkan states into the EU and preventing Russia from establishing a strong foothold in any of the Balkan states, the EU needs to create a conducive atmosphere to achieve that objective. For this reason, the EU wants to create an even playing field that would allow Serbia to distance itself from Russia while gaining some ground toward EU integration. Emmanuel Macron warned on Monday that "France and Germany have made their promises on visa policies and other economic issues, which will be reviewed if both parties do not behave responsibly. We must be very careful in this regard, especially when the stability of the Western Balkans is at risk."

But for that to happen, Kosovo must also play its part. That is, the less Kurti alienates Belgrade and the more cooperative he becomes with Serbia, the more he puts Vucic on the 'defensive.' This is by no means an appeasement of Serbia at the expense of Kosovo, because in the final analysis both countries must resolve their conflict if they seek admission into the EU.

I believe that Kurti might have what it takes to change course and focus on what the people are yearning for. They want jobs, they want opportunities, they want to grow and prosper, they want to feel safe and secure, they want to be free to express themselves without harm, and they want to be heard. This is a wake-up call and Kurti will do well to listen before it's too late.