Summary of the Week 97

Meetings and discussions about the future, alongside remembrance and commemorations of the past, marked the week. Numerous encounters took place, yet even after them, we are no closer to resolving the problems we carried into this week.

Some meetings were emotional and difficult, as they revive painful events that cannot be forgotten. Those memories still hurt, even after 27 years.

“It was difficult, a catastrophe,” recalls a woman who had to leave her home in 1999 on the first day of the bombing. “You don’t know whom to fear—whether the bombing or the KLA members… We fled with nothing at all,” she says.

The same events and encounters with the same force, yet different memories among the citizens of Pristina.

“I remember that day—as a salvation for us. That is how it is viewed in Kosovo,” one resident of Pristina told Kosovo Online.

The view of Kosovo today is often confusing—both for citizens and politicians. That is why the Constitutional Court regularly resolves dilemmas, or at least attempts to do so.

“We will now see whether there will be a new dispute and perhaps a new question for the Constitutional Court,” said Milos Pavkovic of the Centre for European Policies.

The new week will bring new meetings and a continued search for a way out of the months-long political labyrinth. Many doubt that an exit is near, including Dragisa Mijacic, coordinator of the National Convention for Chapter 35.

“It is not realistic for any political option to propose a candidate, collect 30 signatures, and for that candidate to secure both a majority and a two-thirds quorum,” Mijacic believes.

Some are already considering the next steps. Questions that politicians are currently raising behind closed doors are still awaiting clear answers—what they will present to voters, and with whom.

“Abdixhiku is essentially hoping that the return of Osmani to the LDK would effectively unify the entire opposition against Kurti,” says political analyst Ognjen Gogic.

“Everyone against everyone”—this is how citizens perceive the current strategy of politicians. Tired of constant meetings without results, they are demanding solutions.

“I think it is high time for them to think carefully,” Professor Mazllum Baraliju tells politicians, adding: “It is high time they came to their senses.”

There are also those who responded in time to warnings and expectations. Thanks to the footballers’ victory in Bratislava, it can at least be said that not all of this week’s encounters were without results.