Welcome, cynical ladies and gentlemen! (Koha Ditore)
Publicist Enver Robelli writes in his opinion piece that in an interview for a foreign newspaper, the EULEX chief Gabriele Meucci said that EULEX has no friends in Kosovo and that therefore its job is difficult and close to impossible. Meucci also said in the interview that the Kosovar society is infiltrated by organized crime. Robelli notes that one cannot deny the infiltration by organized crime but suggests that Meucci should also say who paved the way for this full infiltration: “this was made possible especially by international missions which chose the easiest way to maintain superficial stability in the country – and the easiest way was to agree that compromise was needed with the leaders of organized crime”. According to Robelli, Meucci’s remarks that EULEX has no friends in Kosovo and that no one in Kosovo is interested in the rule of law, are a grave insult for the Kosovar society. “The truth of the matter is that nowhere in the world were peacekeeping and state-building missions welcomed with greater hospitality than in Kosovo. And nowhere in the world did internationals mischievously misuse hospitality as they did in Kosovo,” Robelli writes. He further argues that in Kosovo, "the UNMIK, EULEX and Western embassies … have done nothing to apprehend those who murdered human rights activists, reporters and writers". According to Robelli, instead of ceasing cooperation with government ministers involved in scandals, EULEX cooperated with them, and even called them partners, saying that they were elected by the people. “The Kosovar society is still suffering the consequences of poor and even scandalous leadership of EULEX by two French generals … EULEX not only failed to resolve any major crime and failed to bring to justice the key people behind corruption, organized crime and other abuses, but this mission also proved unsuccessful in finding those who murdered an EULEX customs officer … The failures of EULEX are a result of political calculations and especially the inability to fulfil the promises made in the 2008-2009 catalogue when EULEX deployed in Kosovo to build a functioning state and to arrest the big fish. Those fish have now become sharks and Meucci is only feeding them”.