Drulek: On the path towards Europe, Kosovo should benefit from the example of the Czech Republic
03/06/2015The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Drulak and the President of the Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs in the Assembly of Kosovo, Mr. Enver Hoxhaj have held a lecture today and have discussed with the students of the UBT on the topic “Central Europe and the Western Balkans in European politics”.
Present at the lecture were also the Ambassador of the Czech Republic in the Republic of Kosovo, Ivo Silhavy, representatives of the institutions of the country and other guests, as well as professors and students of the UBT.
The Rector of the UBT, Prof. Dr. Edmond Hajrizi emphasized the very good cooperation of the UBT with universities from the Czech Republic, such as the universities in Prague and Brno, with which have been developed a range of joint projects.
He stressed that the UBT has developed a number of projects with the support of the Government of the Czech Republic, including projects for the economic zones in Gjakova, Gjilan and Novo Brdo.
The cooperation of the UBT with the Czech universities and institutions, said Hajrizi, will continue further.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Drulak initially expressed being very pleased for the visit to the UBT and for the dialogue with the students.
“It is a great pleasure to be here in your midst, in UBT, which, as I understood, is the leading university in Kosovo. I was an academic lectured at the Czech State University as well as at private universities there. I am impressed with the infrastructure you have. Many universities in Europe have far worse conditions than you. I have also been informed about the impressive results of the graduate students”, stressed Mr. Drulak, a highly respected professional and diplomat in his country and in European diplomatic circles.
Referring to the theme, Mr. Drulak stressed that the experiences of Central Europe have allowed it to reach where it is today. “You are a small country but must gain new experiences to get where the rest of the European Union is. What I mean is the geographical extension does not matter, so it does not matter where these places lie, but the important thing is that they are part of Europe”, he said.
Mr. Drulek, making a comparison between his country and our country, stressed that Kosovo can benefit from the experience of the Czech Republic.
“The Czech Republic is an example which can help Kosovo. Both countries are small, do not have a large number of residents. If the Czech Republic reached the European Union, reached an economic stability, why shouldn’t Kosovo reach it as well”, said Drulek.
“The Balkan countries want the entry into the European Union. It’s a good thing, as it pushes them towards a stability and a greater work to achieve their goal. Kosovo needs to do what the Czech Republic has done earlier. We have engaged renowned architects from Germany, from Italy and from many other countries and have not left it only with the things that the others have done. We continued our path alone. So, we have some countries which are trying to enter the European Union, we are trying to help this process, these missions of developing countries”, stressed among others the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Drulak.
The President of the Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs in the Kosovo Assembly, Mr. Enver Hoxhaj, former Minister of Education and former Foreign Affairs Minister of Kosovo, stressed in his speech a range of experiences, especially from contacts and activities he had as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Analyzing numerous developments in the international plan and the attitude of the international institutions towards the Balkans in general and towards Kosovo, Mr. Hoxha stressed that the the risk comes to the Balkan from the status-quo and not from the development and the integration processes.
Making a comparison between the democratic developments in the Balkans and these developments in the European Union member countries, Mr. Hoxhaj emphasized that the difference lies in the fact that in the Balkans, instead of democratic development the countries turned towards war, while the countries, which are EU members turned to war, went towards economic development.
He also stressed that the other Balkan countries have had it much easier than Kosovo in making reforms and steps on the path towards integration.
Mr. Hoxhaj mentioned three elements which represent the difference between the Central and Eastern Europe from the Balkans. The first element is that the European Union and the United States have aimed to prevent the conflict, to remain calm. The second element is the support of the democratic and economic reforms, while the third element is represented by the support of the Central European countries from the EU countries.
Former Minister Hoxhaj mentioned also the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, calling it as very important, but that has not yet given the expected results. He stressed that the Western countries are doing a lot in Kosovo and in the region in terms of support and reforms on the path of democracy, but noted that, however, the Balkan region is in a complex situation, in the “status quo”.
Mr. Hoxhaj, illustrating the position of the EU towards the countries of the Balkan region, said among other things that the main problem which currently is appearing in the European Union for the countries of the region is not the issue of the rapid membership of all the countries of the region, but the most important part is whether the EU can rank the countries of the region from one stage to the next stage on the road to integration.
In conclusion, Mr. Hoxhaj mentioned some of the problems with which Kosovo is facing, such as visa liberalization, the slow road towards European integration and others.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Drulak and the President of the Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs in the Kosovo Assembly, Mr. Enver Hoxhaj responded to a series of questions of the students, who were interested to know more details about the topic and other topics of interest.