German government: Pristina's 24-hour water supply, among Kosovo's achievements

More than 46m euros will give Germany for Kosovo in 2018, 2019, highlighted by a German government response to the right-right parliamentary group “Alternative for Germany” (AfD).

The German government has planned as developmental assistance for Kosovo for the period 2018-2019, a budget of 46.1m euros, of which 23.7m are in technical co-operation and 22.4m in financial co-operation. This is disclosed by a German government response to a question of the German Alternative Party's (AfD) parliamentary group.

The three main results of this co-operation, according to the German government, are: the provision of clean and constant 24-hour water to the Pristina region; the establishment of the German Migration Information Centre, Professional Education and Carrier (DIMAK) in Pristina, whose aim is to prevent irregular migration and provide assistance to returnees from Germany; as well as the strengthening of institutions and bodies in Kosovo, such as establishing a waste management system, the document says. The German government reports that as a result, more than 500 illegal waste deposits have been closed in 2016-2017, while revenues from waste management fees in 2018 increased to 2m euros a year.

Germany has given Kosovo through the German state bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (Restruction Credit Administration) these ten years of 76,93m Euros, of which Kosovo has returned to Germany to 1491m euros, becomes known in the same document.

The main goal of German aid for Kosovo is the country's support on the road to the EU. The main pillars of this co-operation are democracy, civil society and public administration, as well as energy and sustainable economic development. The German Federal Ministry for Co-operation and Development Strategy with the Republic of Kosovo took effect in December 2017 and is valid for six years.

But German aid for Kosovo is not enough. Germany, as it does for many other developing countries, undertakes the country's research costs for every Kosovo student studying in Germany. Over 1.7 million euros were only in 2016. But this amount is not paid by the Federation, but by relevant tools that also have competencies on higher education policies, it says, among other things in the document.

“Alternative for Germany” accounts for only 12.6 per cent of the countries in Bundestag, but because of the great coalition government among the CDU/ CSU and SPD are the main opposition party. Created in 2013, The AfD is represented in all the land parliaments. It is the only German Bundestag party opposed to the Balkan countries' EU membership. In October it came up with a proposal that, instead of the prospect of membership, Western Balkan states be offered the possibility of creating a Western Balkan Union. / DW