9/02/2016
Kosovo Centre for Security Studies (KCSS), on 9th of February 2016, launched the results of the Special Edition of the Kosovo Security Barometer - Public Perceptions towards Foreign Policy and Dialogue with Serbia.
Invited as panelists from civil society were Fisnik Korenica, Executive Director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies, and Naim Rashiti, Executive Director of the Balkan Policy Research Group.
Donika Emini, author of the report has presented to the audience the main findings of the report, reflecting citizens’ perceptions towards the Kosovo’s foreign policy, regional and international strategic partners, and dialogue with Serbia.
The findings show that the opinions towards one of the most heated debates in the framework of the Kosovo- Serbia dialogue, the establishment of the of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities has been perceived negatively by a vast majority of the respondents. An overwhelming majority of the respondents, or over 70 percent of them share negative attitude with regards to the establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities by seeing it as very harmful and harmful to Kosovo. It is worth noting that the finalization of the agreements and the published details of its contents have outraged the Kosovar Albanian respondents. In addition, the increase of awareness on this matter, being the most discussed issue on the media and among politicians, contributed to a an increase in the negative perceptions by almost 10 percent when compared to the previous KSB results.
With regard to other results, the general trends show that the respondents share different and rather distinct perceptions towards Albania and Serbia. The findings show that Albania is perceived as the greatest ally of Kosovo by over 90 percent of the respondents. The positive perceptions towards Albania can be explained by a large number of factors, which are predominantly driven by the shared traditional, national, cultural and historical values.
Almost half of the respondents perceive these two countries as neutral towards Kosovo. The slight increase in the positive opinion about Albania, compared to the previous edition of the KSB, has also been boosted by the political factors, more precisely by the proactive approach of Albania towards Kosovo’s independence in international arena.
Serbia on the other hand was listed as the most hostile state towards Kosovo by 90 percent of the respondents. The negative opinion of the Kosovar Albanians respondents manifested towards Serbia is still being influenced not only by the historic memory of conflict and repression but also as a result of Serbia’s destructive role towards Kosovo’s statehood and the ensuing discourse. The failure to witness tangible results from the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, the unchanged approach of Serbia towards Kosovo statehood, and the dissatisfaction with the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia, especially the one on the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities has further fed the pessimism towards Serbia.
While positioning to Albania and Serbia is very clear, there are mixed perceptions on two other neighbouring countries of Kosovo, respectively, Montenegro and Macedonia.
While the public perceptions towards Albania and Serbia are clearly different among the respondents, the opinions towards Macedonia and Montenegro as the other two neighbouring countries is rather mixed with a tendency of the respondents to position their opinions towards both countries on neutral territory.
The western states, mostly USA and Germany still remain Kosovo’s biggest allies in the international arena, also seen as the main partners in Kosovo’s state building process. On the other hand, Turkey is being perceived as a new potential ally, with a large portion of Kosovars believing that Kosovo should strengthen its partnership with Turkey.
Russia has been considered as a hostile state by 86.7 percent of the respondents. The negative trends among Kosovar Albanian towards Russia can be also explained by the close ties it has with Serbia and the constant political support towards Serbia especially with respect to the case of Kosovo. Being perceived as the largest Serbian ally in international arena, Russia has been qualified as the “hand of Serbia” predominantly used to block Kosovo’s membership in international organizations.
China has been perceived as a hostile country towards Kosovo as well, up to 65 percent of the respondents China's reluctance to recognize Kosovo’s independence and its veto power in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has highly influenced the opinion of the citizens of Kosovo towards China.
The citizens of Kosovo have shared positive perceptions in relation to the EU and NATO integration process by clearly showing a large level of enthusiasm and willingness to join such structures. On the other hand, a rather considerable amount of the respondents believe that the EU does not have a constructive approach towards Kosovo. A close examination of the results shows that the difference between membership in the EU, the strategic partnership with the USA and Turkey is rather small in the eyes of the respondents. Correspondingly, the failure to gain membership in or establish good relations with one of the aforementioned subjects, the shift to the other options can be an easier alternative according to the results.
This project is supported by National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
