Kosovo's faith in Europe has not grown

The first independent elections in the new state of Kosovo ended with a turnout of 45 percent. The 1,000 Serbs in a south Kosovar community who voted in the local elections despite calls from Serbia to boycott the elections have shown their faith in Europe, the left-liberal Berliner Zeitung writes: "They are counting on being able in the future to grow their maize and let their sheep graze without harassment. ... The Serbs of Štrpce will only be able to continue living peacefully in Kosovo if Europe keeps its promise to admit the whole region to the EU. Only if the momentum of European unity is maintained can the Serbs of Štrpce hope that the governments in Belgrade and Pristina will at least put their quarrel about the status of Kosovo on hold. If they do not, then the citizens of Štrpce will have to leave their villages. ... The Kosovo election is thus a precise Euro-barometer. The message is: faith in Europe has not yet disappeared, but nor has it grown in the past two years."

» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Elections, » Europe, » Kosovo
All available articles from » Norbert Mappes-Niediek

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, November 17, 2009