Kosovo mandatory military service impossible, analysts demand Law for Civil Mobilisation

According to them, military service tasked with obstruction due to lack of budget and that the ten-year KSF transition plan

Former KSF Colonel Africa Wessel in an interview for Online Economy said Kosovo has not yet achieved its full operational capacity to make military service mandatory, while the other obstacle sees the budget. He sees the KSF on the right track developing a professional army with NATO standards.

I consider that at this stage the Kosovo Security Force is probably impossible. The reason is that in its transit plan it has not yet achieved its full operational capacities. The second reason is that if it comes up to it, the current budget of the Kosovo Security Force is not enough, the budget should be increased and the third one that I think is very important is that the mandatory military obligation cannot achieve full capacity to prepare for protection. So KSF is on a good track with its form of development of a professional army with NATO standards, so I consider that this should continue and there is time for them, said Wessel.

Wessel has asked the Government to draft the Law on Mobilisation, since in cases of aggression Kosovo does not force citizens to mobilise.

Our security institutions have, however, taken necessary measures to establish readiness for any surprise, but Kosovo lacks the Law for Mobilisation, so the Government urgently has to draft laws to mobilise national human resource capacities and other economic capacities. We do not have that law in case of emergency or possible aggression, Kosovo does not have a law binding on its citizens to mobilise for the country's defence of”.

While Drizan Shala told Online Economy that the KSF transition has more comprehensive plans. Shala also cites budgetary costs as a real obstacle.

“I think we are in the ten-year transition phase of the Kosovo Security Force's comprehensive plan if the Kosovo armed forces remain and, according to projections, we do not have the mandatory military service and I don't think it is under the harmonisation of the strategic project orientation where we want to have the security force of Kosovo, FAK, respectively. So I don't think that in the medium and long term it would contribute to our having a mandatory military service because it's also a budgetary cost which is even unaffordable to the financial system of the Republic of Kosovo”, Shala said.

Shala sees co-ordination with the international political level and reach agreement with friendly states in case of an attack.

I think that Kosovo and its institutions have taken their preventative actions. We would need to advance further in co-operation and co-ordination with the international political level and reach eventual agreements with Kosovo's friendly partners in the event that the territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo will be violated”, Shala said, while also mentioning the states Kosovo should be close to.

“On the tactical level with co-ordinating operations with Albania, at the operational level with the Turkish military and at the strategic level with Croatia's army”, Shala stressed. / EO