Radojkovic: Kosovo is a temporary project, economically unsustainable, with a fictitious flag

Historian Stefan Radojkovic from the Institute for Political Studies says for Kosovo Online that Kosovo is an economically unsustainable political entity with a fictitious flag.

He agrees with the statement of Kosovo's Minister of Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu, that Kosovo is a temporary project without identity, but he does not believe that Pristina's goal is unification with Tirana.

"The idea of Kosovo as a temporary project represents the political program of Kurti's Self-Determination Movement. They have gained support for this platform from the majority of the Albanian population. It is interesting that they publicly say this, it's not something unknown, but it's a sign that they feel comfortable and privileged in the current constellation and structure of international relations, which definitely favors them, at least concerning the Balkan Peninsula. This will not have any political consequences on a daily political level but also on a foreign policy level. Kosovo is one of the local actors relied upon by Washington, Brussels, and Berlin, and, to a lesser extent, by Paris. We can certainly draw attention to such rhetoric and narratives, but the question is how much it will change any power dynamics in the region," Radojkovic said.

Regarding opponents within the Kosovo government to such a stance, he says that no one is genuinely against it, but that many officials are afraid to publicly express their opinion, fearing it could jeopardize their foreign policy support.

"It's no secret that Kurti and his government have opponents on the foreign policy level who are ready to limit their maneuvering space, especially after the incident in Banjska. Of course, some officials are a bit more cautious. It's not that they disagree with Aliu's statement, but the problem is expressing it publicly at such a high level to avoid reducing their maneuvering space. In other words, any pressure on minority communities, primarily the Serbian community, is absolutely tolerated. So the European Union, for example, effectively does not apply its alleged sanctions against Pristina," Radojkovic emphasized.

In his opinion, Kosovo is a temporary project, and Pristina is attempting to create something that is not a sustainable attempt at state infrastructure.

"Kosovo is economically unsustainable, institutionally poorly organized, and a politically weak entity. Albanians see it as a temporary administrative framework for something that should be further developed. Whether it will be Greater Albania is not so important, but what is important for us to understand is how they view this entire ethnic space. For them, it is a unique cultural-ethnic space, including Albania, the western part of Macedonia, the majority of Kosovo and Metohija, and certain parts of Montenegro. They see it as a unique ethnic-cultural space where all these borders are temporary," he said.

He adds that the Kosovo flag is fictitious and that it has no foundation in the tradition of the Serbian or Albanian people or any other people in that region.

"It is a forced solution imposed because Kosovo is still officially an international protectorate. There are KFOR units, and formally, there is still UNMIK's mission. It had to be formally emphasized as a genuinely international protectorate that would eventually create a nation. In fact, ethnic groups often create nations and then states, but here everything started in reverse order. An attempt was made to create some kind of so-called Kosovo civil society, which absolutely does not exist. Down there, you have Albanian society, Serbian society, Gorani people who see themselves as citizens of Serbia, we also have a Turkish population... It's an artificial construction that is currently the result of the international configuration of forces and will probably cease to exist as such with changes in international circumstances," Radojkovic stressed.

Regarding Kosovo's ultimate goal of unification with Albania, he denies it, but the reasons are purely pragmatic.

"The political elites in Tirana and Pristina are pragmatic and selfish in their pragmatism. They all strive to be 'first in the village, not second in the city.' In that sense, there will be no unification, but there might be some kind of border erasure similar to EU member countries. Formally, there are no borders between full EU members who are part of the Schengen area. It's enough to have an intensive exchange of people and goods between Pristina and Tirana. Of course, this rhetoric is always desirable because it satisfies the emotional needs of the Albanian people in Kosovo. It is possible that there will be some changes, such as the unification of the Pristina administration with Albania or territorial adjustments of those areas. However, more radical changes in the structure of international relations are needed for that," Radojkovic said.