Balkans prime ministers, highways and Merkel (Koha)
Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj argues in his opinion piece that Germany has realized that neither it nor the European Union will benefit from the isolation of the Balkans. “This is why Germany has assumed a leading role in efforts to help the development of the region. But while [German Chancellor] Merkel tries to raise as much awareness as possible for the fight against corruption, leaders from the Balkans view their meeting with Merkel as an opportunity for their own promotion. For some of them, taking pictures with the German Chancellor will be more valuable than a capital investment from this state, if they personally don’t get any benefits from such a project,” Palokaj notes. “At a time when there is little hope that some countries of the Balkans will fight corruption, because as a former senior EU official said ‘for many leaders of the Balkans the fight against corruption would a fight against themselves!’, we are left to hope that Germany, as leader of the EU and as country that is seriously treating the Balkans, will put pressure on countries of the region, especially on Kosovo, to eliminate the cancer called corruption.”