Summary of the week 45

Ahead of the final week of the campaign and the unveiling of presumably the strongest cards, we are summing up the messages we have already heard. We also sum up the cost of living without a dinar and the past results of some old faces who are now presenting themselves as new hopes for dialogue. This compilation belongs in this week’s segment.

Campaign time is for messages—political, encouraging, pessimistic... Threatening, personal ones are sent too, all observed by politicians in the field, sometimes accompanied by fireworks like in Srbica in recent weeks. These personal messages are especially listened to, not just in domestic but also in international relations.

Senior Advisor of the ISAK Fund, Marko Savkovic, reminds us:

“Little sympathies, but also animosities, especially in foreign policy, are very important. A lot depends on the personal relationships of leaders,” he says.

Had these messages been known and better understood earlier, the consequences would have been less costly. Now, analysts are assessing the implications of Trump’s initial messages about cutting subsidies.

“This will have quite negative consequences for Kosovo,” says Agim Shahini, president of the Kosovo Business Alliance. “Many institutions and projects depend on those donations,” Shahini explains.

Because of this, messages in recent weeks are traveling in both directions.

“If they want to stay politically alive, the new Government of Kosovo, the Pristina administration, will have to reestablish relations with America,” says Aleksandar Shljuka from the New Social Initiative.

And from the relationship with America, it is expected, will depend what messages Brussels sends to the region. There is both impatience and apprehension as they await the first messages from the new mediator in the dialogue.

Historian Stefan Radojkovic estimates:

“Sorensen will be as powerful as Brussels can force Belgrade and Pristina to conduct dialogue in a more constructive manner.”

The objectivity he possesses in the definition of his role should also be maintained in practical messages. Although, analysts believe, that would be a surprise. It’s more realistic, they say, that he will lean towards one side.

“I believe he won’t miss an opportunity to score when there’s a chance,” comments analyst Shkelzen Maliqi for Kosovo Online.

Many opportunities have been missed because there was no understanding for the messages and cries of the citizens, say those who are currently summing up the cost of a year without a dinar. Both in the north and the south of Kosovo, undivided in their calculus: it has been a tough year behind us.

“I don’t know what there is that’s so hard to solve,” says a resident of Gracanica. So many years of negotiations, attempts, and it’s just one technical issue.”

In every question, task, and problem, we’ve learned, there are always emotions and personal messages involved. All this now needs to be transformed into one message that citizens will send to politicians exactly a week from now.