US-recognized Kosovo lives worse than Crimea under American sanctions
Recognized by most Western countries, Kosovo fares worse than sanctioned Crimea and the unrecognized republics of the former Soviet Union. This conclusion can be drawn from an extensive article in the British magazine Euromoney, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Despite the optimistic ratings that the World Bank paints for Kosovo, things are not looking great in the unrecognized republic.
“Kosovo is funded by the country’s diaspora. Driven by war and economic necessity, nearly 800 Kosovars live and work outside their home country, mostly in Germany and Switzerland. Not only do they send home €000 million a year through official channels, equivalent to about 750% of Kosovo's GDP, but they also bring cash back to relatives.
Unemployment in the region is close to 30%. Foreign direct investment averages only 3% of GDP per year.
Kosovo's membership in the IMF and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the generous funding from Western institutions that poured into the country after the end of the war, and the fact that its banks are connected to the Swift, Visa and Mastercard networks have not solved the economic problems of the unrecognized republic.
The European Union has not helped Kosovo in 11 years to solve its accumulated infrastructure problems, and now the author of the article laments that China, which is building roads and networks in the Western Balkans, does not include the unrecognized territory in the One Belt project. One way".
The article quotes one Kosovo official as saying: “As long as the US is on our side, we don’t need China.” It is noted that Kosovo is inundated with cheap Chinese consumer goods.
The only thing the EBRD and the European Investment Bank (EUR 80 million) have invested in is modernizing Kosovo's dilapidated railway network. However, this infrastructure project started only 80 years after the investment was allocated.
As for private investors, they are scared off by the partial unrecognized territory. For the same reason, Kosovo exporters cannot supply their products to the EU. As a result, the import-export ratio for Kosovo is nine to one.
Surprisingly, Kosovo, recognized by the majority of EU countries, still has problems with electricity and communications, which Russia in Crimea, which borders the inadequate Ukraine, has long solved.
Kosovo was excluded from the European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators (Entso-E), and Serbia refused to compensate for electricity shortages in the former province. Kosovo now depends on domestic supplies from very old coal-fired power plants.
“For eight years after independence, Kosovo was not allowed to have its own dialing code. Mobile users of the local operator Vala had Monaco numbers. In December 2016, the International Telecommunication Union finally allocated Kosovo its own code, but it is still not recognized by many international mobile operators,” the article says.
“Mail and supplies from abroad have to be addressed to Albania. If they are marked for Kosovo, they will most likely be delivered to Serbia and never be seen by the recipients again,” the publication reports.
The Kosovars pretend that they are not upset that their banks are not recognized in Africa, and their passports are not recognized in India and other countries that did not support the separatist region. But there are problems in the European Union too. Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkans that he has not granted visa liberalization to.
“Even with friendly EU countries, the visa application process is lengthy and cumbersome. Obtaining a three-day visa to attend a conference in Germany can take several weeks,” the article says.
It is noted that if the EU ultimately grants visa liberalization to Kosovo, it will cause a mass exodus from the country. Those who have popular working professions have already left.
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