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Miftaraj: The inaction of institutions in the Balkans is being compensated by US sanctions

Miftaraj: The inaction of institutions in the Balkans is being compensated by US sanctions

The Executive Director of the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), Ehat Miftaraj, has commented on the expansion of US sanctions in the Western Balkans.

"We are talking about 6 countries in the Western Balkans, where we can say that they do not respect the rule of law, they do not respect good governance. If we look at the measures they took in Macedonia, in December, if I am not mistaken, judges and prosecutors in this country were sanctioned," said Miftaraj.

He emphasized that the US is compensating for the inaction of institutions in these countries through executive orders.


"One thing we know is that the US invests millions of euros per year in these six countries in each country. In Kosovo alone, if I'm not mistaken, it invests over 50 million euros per year in the rule of law," he added.

Miftaraj noted that the failure of states to fight corruption and the lack of response to negative phenomena requires strong intervention from the US.

"For him, so to speak, to repair the damage that is being done on the ground," he said.

According to him, Bosnia and Serbia are the countries most included in the sanctions lists, as these countries have not shown a culture of fighting corruption and have a culture of impunity.

"Moreover, there is a culture of impunity so deep and ingrained that it means there is no hope that anything can change within these countries," Miftaraj added.

In Kosovo, according to him, the blacklist mainly includes companies and individuals from the Serbian community.

"I believe it is a measure that helps these countries turn their attention to how corruption should be fought, what the measures should be," he said.

He appealed for the promotion of values ​​that avoid situations where orders from previous years are changed.

"...and Kosovo, instead of being an exception to the Balkan countries, is unfortunately part of this cake that Serbia received from the Biden administration at the end of its mandate," Miftaraj concluded.

He said that the United States of America will for the first time also punish public officials who take populist actions.

"It is good to read the new Law from the Kosovo side as well, I believe that the Government, public officials should read it very carefully because it has introduced new areas, it returns to Resolution 1244, meaning for the first time it defines it very clearly, where it says that all those public officials who take populist actions can be subject to punitive measures," said Miftaraj.

According to him, it is important to read the messages, because even on the topic of the bridge, foreign embassies said that opening the bridge endangers KFOR, and when KFOR is endangered, Resolution 1244 and the ethnic state are endangered.

He says that based on Resolution 1244, KFOR is the authority that guards the external borders of Kosovo, maintains peace, and despite our desire to call the KSF an army, its capacities in relation to KFOR are limited and restricted.

"We are doing politics by sending the KSF to the North, this is for internal consumption, and the letters that Macedonia is sending are more of populist actions, where in a way they are undermining resolution 1244, peace and security at least in the territory of Kosovo, which could then have an effect in other countries as well," said Miftaraj. /Oath of Justice/