Present Hoxha: Kosovo knocks on EU door

Kosovo will be an EU member in 2030? This is in every case what the Present Hoxha, Kosovo Minister of European Integration hopes for.

This young woman, educated in the United States, was on an official visit to Paris last week.

Our region needs the EU”, she tells opinion, referring to the Western Balkans that the war had raged over 20 years ago. In the spring of 1999, NATO bombarded Serbia to help the Kosovo Albanian population, at the time the province of Serbia. The region was later established under international administration, with Bernard Kouchner as Kosovo's “gueverator”, before the country officially becomes independent in 2008. This independence is not yet recognised by Serbia and, as an important obstacle to discussions with the EU, by five member states: Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia. That's enough to say that the road is still long for an EU accession and that Kosovars have to dismiss certain doubts...

Six Western Balkan states knock at the EU gate, while Slovenia and Croatia are already full members. Two of these countries have already officially begun negotiations on membership: Montenegro and Serbia. Two others -- Albania and Macedonia, officially candidate -- want to start the same process, but they have yet to wait after the impasse by France (and the Netherlands) at the European Council in June 2018. A decision touching them could come this year, especially after the recent agreement between Greece and Macedonia on the name of that small republic that was opposed by Athens. With their most uncertain international status, Kosovo and Bosnia are all at the bottom of the enlargement list.

Euro behind the eurozone. For the gift, Hoxha, the EU remains “the best example of a peace project”, but it is “a competition for peace” (“) for countries in the region. “We need the EU to transform our country, our society,” she adds, describing her government's efforts in the areas of respect of rule of law, independence of justice, protection of minorities or promoting women's rights.

For Kosovo, as for its neighbours, ambition to join the EU and NATO one day is at the heart of their national strategy. If this perspective were to be closed, other powers would occupy the EU country: Russia, China, Turkey or the countries of Golf. While many Europeans especially in France are opposed to a new enlargement, an important geopolitical issue is being played out in the Balkans.

Among the hottest files is the issue of relations with Serbia. Partisans of a reconciliation, the two presidents Hashim Thaci and Aleksandar Vuciq, amount to taking into account a territorial exchange, especially in Serb majority northern Kosovo. But this has sparked strong domestic objections in both countries.

With Kosovo, one thing is only regulated: the currency. Like Montenegro, this state uses the euro as a national devis, without meeting the eurozone. This provides us with macroeconomic stability”, explains the gift Hoxha. Kosovo remains the region's poorest country, though with an annual increase of between 3% and 4%. The minister does not give up on some Kosovo start-up and flat tax, in a country where the average salary is between 400 and 500 euros.