Soren Jessen-Petersen, former United Nations chief administrator in Kosovo, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe, that Kosovo’s leadership is out of touch and that Kosovo needs a “new generation of political leaders, because the current leaders are not showing any vision apart from their insistence to remain in power”.

Mr. Jessen-Petersen, 2016 was a year full of developments in Kosovo. What do you consider were the achievements and the setbacks?

First I must say that I need to be careful because I don’t live in Kosovo anymore and I haven’t been to Kosovo in the last two-three years. But I try to follow the situation from media reports and contacts with my friends there. I want to say is that we who are not there need to be careful because we don’t know many things that are going on there. These are my general impressions and in the area of achievements, I still believe that despite the setbacks, and I will comment on this later, but every year since independence I believet that it is being consolidated. I think Kosovo has been recognised not only officially but also in reality by all the countries that have recognised it. Kosovo is increasingly taking part in international events. Therefore, I think that despite the setbacks independence has become consolidated and this is an achievement. On the other hand, I must say that I am dissapointed when I see the setbacks and I am really dissapointed to see that all the problems that Kosovo is faced with today are the ones that I remember from the time I left Kosovo in 2006, and these were the same problems when Kosovo became independent, such as: organised crime, corruption and certainly the lack of economic development. The economy is very poor and the level of unemployment remains high. Problems there are reflected by a sad fact that over 70,000 citizens from Kosovo tried to seek asylum in Europe. This shows that people are leaving Kosovo, and mainly young people, because they don’t have any hope that their political leaders understand that they need to address corruption and organised crime in reality and not only with beautiful words. This is a well-known issue for the politicians and for apparent reasons. So as long as there are no jobs, the youth have no hope and how will Kosovo look like without youth?! So I think the problems remain the same and you will keep hearing about them from Kosovo’s friends. The British Ambassador, the U.S. Ambassador, constantly talk about the importance of combating organised crime and corruption and politicians keep saying ‘yes we understand’ but in reality nothing is happening.

As you follow the situation in Kosovo, do you think this is lack of leadership in Kosovo?

I think so. I think that Kosovo unfortunately has the same generation of political leaders that are in power are close to it, even before independence. They are the same people. Look at their pictures and you will see the same people. I believe that these political leaders are outdated and out of touch. This is why I believe that Kosovo, and this goes for other countries in Europe, but Kosovo in particular needs a new generation of political leaders. There is currently no leadership that can bring Kosovo together and in whom the people of Kosovo would have trust and support. There is Vetevendosje, with the new generation, but I have to say that Vetevendosje often acts as obstructers rather than a builder of society. The political leadership is out of touch and they still don’t understand the messages of what they need to address in order to move forward, such as the issue of visa liberalisation. Everything that they do is when they return from Brussels, they spread false news to the people that visa liberalisation will happen within a month, or other words, and we all know that this will certainly not happen.

Mr. Jessen-Petersen, you know the current leadership in Kosovo from the time you spent here. Why is it difficult for Kosovo to overcome differences within its political landscape?

Because I think that the political leaders who are in power today and those in the opposition are leaders of a small minority – simply of their voters – and in some cases not even of all their voters. So there are currently no leaders in Kosovo that can bring it together and in whom the people of Kosovo would have trust and support. They are showing no vision except for their insistence to remain in power, they have no vision how to take Kosovo forward. They simply are not role models for the people and for the new generations. They have no vision, they lack clear goals, and it is difficult for the country to move forward without someone that can bring the country together.

The people of Kosovo sometimes have great expectations from the international community. This time with the Special Court. Will this Court help Kosovo’s society with the rule of law?

Firstly, I must acknowledge the merits. I think that in general, the political leaders have cooperated in the formation of the Court, despite some opposition. This is good because Kosovo understands that regardless of disagreements, the Court will be set up and it has been set up. So I must say that since political leaders are not trying to build the rule of law from within Kosovo, it needs to be done from the outside. It is almost imposed from the outside. I think that the Court will hopefully show Kosovo, its political leadership and society, that the country cannot move forward and that there can be no progress if there is no rule of law.

Let us return to the political leadership once again. Last year was a difficult year with strong opposition to certain processes, such as the ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro. Could Kosovo face, let me call it an international “punishment” for failing to respect international agreements?

I think we have seen an example with visa liberalisation. I think it is very painful for the citizens of Kosovo not to enjoy the same freedoms as other countries in Europe. I have underlined before that this is a result of the lack of progress, lack of political will to tackle organised crime, corruption, and at the same time there is the fact that there are still five EU member states that have not recognised Kosovo. It is painful but I think it is also a powerful message from the EU although you called it punishment. I reiterate that this message was reaffirmed by EU officials in Brussels, EU officials who travelled to Kosovo, that they want to see Kosovo get visa liberalisation but that you in Kosovo need to do “your homework”. In particular, you need to tackle organised crime and corruption. So Kosovo will continue being deprived of what it should have because Kosovo should enjoy the freedom of movement like any other country. But it has duties it needs to fulfill and it seems the EU is still not happy with the political establishment’s work on implementation of the criteria.

And do you think this leadership can fulfill these obligations?

Seeing what has been done or, to better put it, what has not been done, I understand why there are so many people losing faith in the ability or the will of the political leadership to do what it takes to get, what is now the most important thing, visa liberalisation.

There is another issue that has caused problems in Kosovo: the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. Is that dividing Kosovo along ethnic lines again? Serbs consider it to be something that enables them survival in Kosovo while Albanians sat it “undermines their country.” Will the Association/Community increase or decrease tensions?

We all know that this is a difficult issue. The Ahtisaari plan, which was the basis for independence, speaks of a certain level of autonomy in the north. I think the painful part of it is - and this is where the EU was not clear to the parties - that there is no doubt Serbia is doing everything possible to destabilize independence of Kosovo. I think the EU should be much clearer towards Serbia. If Serbia wants to further European integrations, it needs to stop destabilization of Kosovo and one of the means to do so is through acting in the north. Again, I feel sorry for the people living in the north, the Serbs there. I feel sorry for them for two reasons: one, because they have been used as a tool by the government in Belgrade and two, by the Kosovo side and I again believe that leaders in Kosovo were not clear enough in an effort to reach out to Kosovo Serbs still living there. I see however that there are different initiatives by certain politicians but there is still a feeling that this is happening because the EU has asked them to do so although I think a more realistic approach is needed here. I think the EU’s main problem to address here is the continuing destabilizing efforts on the part of Serbia.

There is a dialogue taking place in Brussels under the EU facilitation. Has this been used or abused?

I think on the one hand some things have been achieved but I also think that the two sides, Kosovo and Serbia, and particularly Serbia, entered this process because the EU told them to. Second, it [Serbia] entered it to insist on “its right” to Kosovo. I think there is no genuine will to sit down and try to resolve these issues of interest to the two countries, in the interest of stability of both sides and in the interest of regional stability. I think dialogue is very important and as I said there has been progress although it is based, almost, on a starting fearing point – giving up on something or something more. I think dialogue should continue but I also think the EU should be clear on the agreements reached so far and not implemented. Again, the message to Serbia needs to be very powerful. But, of course, Kosovo should also be told that it has responsibilities in the dialogue through constructive approach and implementation of what it has been achieved.