Andoni: Albania is changing its defense strategy, the burden of protecting Kosovo will remain on it and on part of NATO

Political analyst from Tirana Ben Andoni told Kosovo Online that Albania has had to reassess its entire defense strategy, and that regional relations have additionally influenced these decisions. He believes that the United States is reducing its interest in Europe and that the burden of defending Kosovo, as he says, will largely remain on Albania and some NATO countries.

Speaking about the ranking of military forces in the Balkans, Andoni points out that Serbia’s position has drawn particular attention.

“I think this ranking by foreign institutions is correct. It is strange why our region has some countries like Serbia that are so high on this ranking list. I believe that Serbia is always facing its own problems, that is, it thinks it is under threat, especially from Croatia and countries where Albanians live, which includes Kosovo and, of course, Albania. There is also the issue that Serbia is one of the countries in Europe that most strongly supports Russia,” he notes.

He adds that the intensity of Serbia’s military buildup attracts additional attention.

“However, Serbia’s armament has attracted more attention because of its pace, technology, investments, and especially the participation of the population in it, with the reintroduction of military service for reservists. Serbia has a kind of defense-preparation psychosis, and this has been further emphasized especially after the trilateral agreement between Croatia, Albania, and Kosovo, although we must tell the truth that in recent days Albania’s minister of defense, Mr. Piro Vengu, has also extended an official invitation to Serbia to join this agreement. If we take all this into account, Serbia is following a narrative according to which it is a threatened country and that it needs such armament because of the situation in the region, while the invitation to join the agreement was extended in order to remove the Kosovo issue and to bring Serbia closer to the EU as much as possible,” Andoni says.

Turning to Albania, he emphasizes that Tirana has significantly redefined its defense policy in recent years.

“Albania has had to reassess its entire defense strategy, especially in recent years, and especially the armament it needs. Today, the emphasis is on weapons production. In the new circumstances, now that it has reached an agreement with Kosovo and Croatia, Albania must at least keep pace with Croatia. Of course, Croatia’s economic level is much higher than Albania’s, but Albania has increased its military budget from a level below two percent of gross domestic product and is now exceeding that level. Albania is making maximum efforts to reach the standards that Mr. Trump demanded for the defense of NATO member states,” the analyst from Tirana assesses.

He also points to changes in the engagement of the United States regarding Kosovo.

“The importance that Albania attaches to the field of defense appears to be linked to Kosovo as well. This is because new developments show that the United States is increasingly reducing its interest in Europe and that the burden of defending Kosovo will remain largely on Albania and some NATO countries,” Andoni notes.

He compares the current situation to the Covid pandemic, when countries around the world began to defend themselves without yet knowing how to protect themselves from the virus.

“We are intensively preparing to defend ourselves against an almost imaginary enemy. The first danger can be called Russia, because Russia was long considered a country that could be trusted. However, Russia is showing that due to its heavy engagement in the war in Ukraine, it will not be able to wage other wars for several years. Meanwhile, Serbia is attracting more and more attention, at least according to the press in Kosovo. There is a large concentration of its army near the border with Kosovo, and this may mean that it will never accept Kosovo’s independence. In that sense, while it is believed that Serbia is preparing how to penetrate Kosovo, using all geostrategic opportunities and given the geopolitical implications that could arise, Albania and other countries appear to be considering this imagined attack if Serbia were indeed to undertake such an action and if Bosnia were destabilized,” the analyst from Tirana says.