The effect of diplomacy, the broom of regeneration

In recent years, Kosovo's international position has been largely damaged and the recovery of this position should be a priority of the country's new government, which needs to impose a better approach than until now diplomacy and foreign service, recognises developments in Kosovo.

According to them, for several years, Kosovo's foreign policy has had so many defects that they have become institutional degeneration. Consequently, as they say, foreign policy actions have been more improvised and with negative effects on Kosovo's international representation.

Infirm Diplomacy

The Serbian Loxha, director of the Committee for Jury and Political Studies, tells Radio Free Europe that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, but other institutions, must quickly take some measures to regeneration the damages that have been caused to Kosovo's international position.

“Initially, it is important that Kosovo immediately restore and strengthen diplomatic co-operation with its strategic partners, because this has been overlooked. At the same time, consider forms of co-operation with those countries that have recognised Kosovo, but with which we have not yet established full diplomatic relations”.

This is to be done so that we can secure their support in the campaign to ensure new recognitions, but also to counter Serbian diplomatic aggression, which is manifested in recognition of”, Loxha said.

She has added that Kosovo's diplomacy, so far, has been powerless to Serbia's aggressive campaign, which the dialogue on normalising relations with Kosovo, has presented as a dialogue on the status solution to many countries. This, according to her, has also affected the appeal of certain acquaintances but also the failure of new acquaintances.

To respond to Serbia's aggressive diplomatic campaign, according to Loxha, the Kosovo government must urgently compile a national strategy.

For more, according to her, to improve the country's image, the new Kosovo government must show that it is ready and determined to govern well, proving progress in fighting corruption and organised crime, in key reforms that are necessary in the state-building process and European integrations.

Loxha has also stressed that Kosovo should renew its interest in membership in international organisations, and that as a starting point it should be INTERPOL, U. NESTO, Council of Europe and World Trade Organisation (OBT). But, as she said, adequate preparations are needed for all of these, and the application for membership must come where Kosovo will secure its partners' full support and be certain of success.

On the other hand, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Glauk Konjufca, at the Kosovo Government meeting on February 12th, has proposed that Kosovo not apply for admission in INTERPOL this year.

As he has said, the situation regarding the international support needed for membership in INTERPOL is no better for Kosovo than in the past two years, when membership in this organisation had failed.

Under all parameters, Kosovo would have the same result if it applied this year. So if we want to avoid this situation, then it is proposed that it be at a meeting next year, which is much more appropriate for us even in the sense of where it is held, which is in Turkey”, Conjufca said.

Political affairs analyst Artan Muhhaxhiiri, speaking of Radio Free Europe, has rightly praised Minister Konjufca's proposal. He has stressed that the latter must make strategic planning for correcting the damage that has been done in recent years in foreign policy in order to recover it.

Kosovo's up-to-date efforts to join U NESTO and INTERPOL have suffered huge fiascos and have been shy of those diplomatic losses in Kosovo, which have been done with a completely unbaised and unrealistic pomposis”.

Minister Konjufca is obliged to have a realistic approach because any repetition of mistakes that have been made so far would be unforgivable and would indicate that no lectures from the past” have been learned, Muhramir said.

Embassys, House of Political Militants

Recently, on February 20th, Foreign Minister Konjufca through a decision has dismissed 14 councils in Kosovo's diplomatic representatives in various countries of the world, arguing that their appointments have been illegal decisions of the past government.

Arbare Loja says that Kosovo embassies in foreign countries, since their opening, most of the time, are, as she calls them, “due to political militants”. According to her, all parties that have governed or been ruling coalition partners have exploited diplomacy to accommodate party militants and people close to politics.

We consider that political crises have been used to bring high political and nepotistic employment and that more than half of high-level diplomats do not meet even the minimum criteria of a low-ranking diplomat in the region”.

“We consider that starting from the diplomatic style of the last ministry (Foreign), the current government must eventually end last style and consider recruiting literal, educated diplomats, with credentials and foreign language knowledge and create a new diplomatic system in order to strengthen Kosovo diplomatic representation”, Loxha said.

She added that in the foreign ministry, so far, there has been a great lack of real co-operation and co-ordination between its interior structures of the ministry, which, in turn, have created unclear situations in the process or chain of implementation of orders within the ministry and diplomatic staff abroad.

Similar sentiments are shared by analyst Artan Muhhaxhiri, who expresses the opinion that within the ministry itself, but also diplomatic representation, changes are needed at certain levels.

“Minister Konjufca must be realistic in combining the opportunity and potential currently exists in order to benefit fully from existing capacities that are in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.

There has so far been an extreme party approach, where completely unprofessional and untrained people have had decision-making positions only because of party affiliation. Minister Konjufca would have to stop this practice and target the recovery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy in general”, Muhramiri said.

Radio Free Europe has contacted Foreign Minister Konjufca's cabinet officials to receive answers regarding the approach that will have the political leadership of this ministry towards diplomacy and foreign policy of the country, as well as a possible strategy in the face of Serbia's diplomatic campaign to withdraw Kosovo recognitions, but they have refused to respond.

The Foreign Ministry's website has so far found 116 countries that have recognised Kosovo, though this number opposes Serbia's authorities, which have stressed that at least 15 countries have withdrawn or frozen recognition of Kosovo.

Over the past two years, Kosovo has received no recognition. On February 20th of this year, officials of Kosovo's top institutions declared that Kosovo was recognised by Jamaica, but only a day later, the authorities of this country have declared they have not recognised Kosovo.