Two key factors of Kosovo's impasse on EU integration

Politicalisation of public administration, corruption, organised crime, as well as inefficient judicial system remain the main culprits of blocking Kosovo into EU integration.

So told the publication of the D4D regional research called “institutional reforms and democratic legitimacy in Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro”.

Presenting this research on Kosovo is done by the D4D policy researcher Zogiani Falls.

She said Kosovo is considered a potential candidate country to join the EU and that the EU integration path has been an independent and interrelated foreign policy priority for Kosovo from independence.

However, she said that even after 12 years of independence, Kosovo's goals for European integration are not very vulnerable.

The next month is 12 years that Kosovo has declared independence, and unfortunately the results of integrations, our goals for European integration are not very tangible. Unfortunately, politicised administration, corruption, organised crime, as well as the non-functional judicial system remain among the main reasons or factors that are hampering Kosovo towards advancing its efforts to the European Union”, she said.

The data for Montenegro has been presented to Nina Kekoyev, a public policy researcher at CEM, who said political elites in this country again have placed private and party interest before the public.

Political “Elites in Montenegro have again placed private and party interest before public and have failed to achieve those initial results in the field, particularly those dealing with the area of law and law. So a corrupt society that does not accept things and that has been combined with organised crime prevents responsible control and responsible decision-making within institutions. Since the establishment of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption in Montenegro has attracted a lot of public attention for unfortunately not good, as highlighted very often by my organisation and confirmed by EU progress reports, instead of serving as an excellent example as an institution that has escaped the rhetoric of the captured state and serves as a fighter in the front lines. The Agency for Prevention of Corruption remains to be understood and seen as an institution lacking independence when it comes to resolving and addressing political issues. You've all heard of those tapes, then next to the envelope and the other”, she said.

Meanwhile, the director of the SAA policy co-ordination department at the European Integration Ministry, Artan Colak, said how administration has managed to meet the SAA's conditions within several months, but that according to him the undertaken reforms are not sustainable.

“Crahed with other countries Kosovo as a new state has an administration, although with specific problems related to the SAA has arrived for a relatively satisfactory time to carry out those technical tasks starting with visa liberalisation, meeting the criteria, negotiating the MSA, for example for formal criteria as the precondition for negotiating the MSA has fulfilled them very quickly, within a few months. But, it's not enough, they're just formal criteria which then face two major problems that make this international impact necessary and leave us as disabled, not too willing to deal with our problems. The first is that reforms are not very stable and we make certain laws only for the EU, and when you see the EU look good to me, but the EU lives with us every day. This is the first problem that reforms are not sustainable and require follow-up of”, he said.

On the other hand, Epic Institute Executive Director Demush Shasha said Kosovo has made progress on its integration path over the past 10 years.

Kosovo has made progress on its integration path over the past 10 years. It has made progress because after declaring independence we reached negotiations M SA, the SAA has established contractual relations between us and the EU and let us say it has sealed our future for EU membership. Note, from any country, from the beginnings of the integration process to EU membership, only two documents are signed, in the SAA and finally the process of the membership treaty. Consequently, I say that we as Kosovo, despite not being recognised by the five EU member states, signing is an achievement on our integration path ... The second achievement, is the issue of visa liberalisation, we need to find a satisphaci with the fact that the visa liberalisation dialogue has begun, all 95 criteria have been met and now we are awaiting a decision on the part of EU institutions. All we have to accept is that the start of a very challenging process is an achievement, and the conclusion of this process with 95 criteria is an achievement, despite the fact that we have had double criteria than other countries”, he said.

Research “institutional reforms and democratic legitimacy in Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro” is supported by the European Fund for the Balkans. /