Kosovo needs more help than EU admits

Long-term severe ethnic tensions between Kosovo's Albanian and Serb populations left Kosovo ethnically divided, resulting in inter-ethnic violence, including the Kosovo War of 1998–99. The war ended with a military intervention of NATO, which forced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate under UNSCR 1244. On 17 February 2008 Kosovo's Parliament declared independence. It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 108 UN member states.

Migration from the Western Balkans towards the EU is not new. But the size of the exodus from Kosovo surprised many in early February, when the media began reporting that a large number of Kosovar Albanians were trying to enter Hungary via Serbia. EurActiv Serbia reports.

There is no precise information on the number of Albanians who ave left Kosovo. Estimates in early February cite several hundred leaving daily. According to data provided by security forces, over the past two months, more than 50,000 have left, while media estimate 100,000 since August 2014.

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga started touring the municipalities from which the biggest number of illegal migrants had left, and spoke about the matter directly with the those she met on the street and in restaurants.

As one of the measures aimed at stemming the flow of migrants, on 5 February, the government decided to form a commission that would consider the possibility of writing off all of their debts to institutions and public enterprises created between 1999 and the end of 2008. The possibility of writing off interest on the debts of citizens and companies incurred after 2008 was also announced.

According to an analysis conducted by Radio Television Kosovo, the personal earnings of Kosovo public sector employees are on average 100 euros higher than the earnings of their counterparts in neighboring countries – Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania.

However, even so Kosovo, is still the poorest country in the region, with around 30% of the population living in poverty, 10% of them in extreme poverty, living off less than one dollar per day.

The unemployment rate, according to official data, is around 30%, whereas according to unofficial data it is about 40%, and among youth aged 15-24, it is 55.9%. This age group accounts for the biggest number of migrants.

Europe's southeastern flank feels abandoned by the EU - and not for the first time. The EU must finally admit that its policy on the Southeastern European periphery was not right. That takes courage and political responsibility - and the will to take a new tack on the issue of poverty migration despite the acute crises in Ukraine and Greece.

The call for a Marshall Plan (as for Western Europe after the Second World War) or a "solidarity tax" (as for the former East Germany) for the countries in this region is not new. No one in the EU or the US seems to heed - or want to heed - this call. As long as there is no solution in sight that really makes a difference to the people, there will always be large groups in Europe who turn their backs on their countries to escape the misery - and to secure a decent future for themselves and above all their children, reports dw.de