The Solution of the Albanian Question as a Precondition for the Fruitful Cooperation in the Balkans
erschienen in der Publikation "The Stability Pact for South East Europe - Dawn of an Era of Regional Co-operation" (ISBN: 3-901328-75-0) - November 2002
Autor(en):
Prof. PhD Enver HasaniThemen:
KonfliktforschungRegion(en):
Balkan und Südosteuropa
6 Seiten (19 KB)
Schlagworte zu diesem Beitrag:
Europa, Politik, Stabilisierung, Demokratisierung, Gesellschaft
Abstract:
The Stability Pact was launched on the eve of the Kosova war and conflict. Paradoxically, though, Kosova has so far benefited the lest from it. Only very recently Kosova managed to have its own representative in it. This is a sign that the same mistakes are being made vis-à-vis Kosova as in the past, seeing the region as a bogus or maverick part of the far South-East of Europe.
When launched almost three and a half years ago, expectations were high among the poverty-stricken citizens of the Western Balkans. It came as a remedy for the sufferings and the tragedies caused by the Yugoslav wars of succession. Not rarely, people and the Balkan elite saw the Pact as a new variant of the Marshall Plan for this part of Europe. But, it was not. Time proved this. The Marshall Plan was different in all its basic aspects. The Marshall Plan was successful, inter alia, due to the existence of a Soviet threat, a fact clearly missing in the case of the Stability Pact. The cohesiveness enjoyed by the Marshall Plan is very unlikely to be ever achieved by the current actors of the Stability Pact for the reasons just mentioned. This is not to say that the Pact does not have the same premises as those enshrined in the Marshall Plan. However, the context is different. It is entirely different indeed. Among the differences I have in mind are those related to the concept of a "nation-state". That is to say to the concept of recognising the fait accompli-policies reached forcefully at other levels and places. This very premise was pushed to the extremes by the leaders of the Pact. This assistance changed slightly over the time. The current leader of the Pact, Erhard Busek, seems to have realised that a state-centred approach of the Pact cannot be that fruitful for all cases, including Kosova. In fact, if this rigid and strictly legal approach is not abandoned, then it will surely render ineffective the main mission of the Pact, that is, the reintegration of the whole region into Europe and wider contexts . This is the point and the very cause of the failure of other political projects of the previous century This failure has nowhere been more obvious than in the case of the Albanians living in the Balkans.
When launched almost three and a half years ago, expectations were high among the poverty-stricken citizens of the Western Balkans. It came as a remedy for the sufferings and the tragedies caused by the Yugoslav wars of succession. Not rarely, people and the Balkan elite saw the Pact as a new variant of the Marshall Plan for this part of Europe. But, it was not. Time proved this. The Marshall Plan was different in all its basic aspects. The Marshall Plan was successful, inter alia, due to the existence of a Soviet threat, a fact clearly missing in the case of the Stability Pact. The cohesiveness enjoyed by the Marshall Plan is very unlikely to be ever achieved by the current actors of the Stability Pact for the reasons just mentioned. This is not to say that the Pact does not have the same premises as those enshrined in the Marshall Plan. However, the context is different. It is entirely different indeed. Among the differences I have in mind are those related to the concept of a "nation-state". That is to say to the concept of recognising the fait accompli-policies reached forcefully at other levels and places. This very premise was pushed to the extremes by the leaders of the Pact. This assistance changed slightly over the time. The current leader of the Pact, Erhard Busek, seems to have realised that a state-centred approach of the Pact cannot be that fruitful for all cases, including Kosova. In fact, if this rigid and strictly legal approach is not abandoned, then it will surely render ineffective the main mission of the Pact, that is, the reintegration of the whole region into Europe and wider contexts . This is the point and the very cause of the failure of other political projects of the previous century This failure has nowhere been more obvious than in the case of the Albanians living in the Balkans.