Police cooperation leads to better relations between Serbia, Kosovo and Albania

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“Good relation with neighbours is one of the conditions for EU membership. One good example for Serbia and Kosovo is police cooperation. There are regular weekly and monthly meetings between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Kosovo Police and EULEX representatives. These meetings are held alternately in Raska and Kosovska Mitrovica“, said BCSP researcher Bojan Elek.

Speaking in front of 30 participants interested in regional cooperation and EU integrations, Elek also pointed out that in 2013, Serbia, Albania and Kosovo performed the first ever joint police action in cooperation with the member states of the European Union, with the goal to search for stolen cars in the EU.

The importance of police reform was highlighted by Foto Duro from Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) in Tirana. He said that reforms contributed to depoliticization and professionalization of the Albanian police. Duro said that more than 800 police officers in Albania were released for being involved in corruption. 

Corruption is one of the biggest problems also in Kosovo. Sofije Kryeziu from Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS) in Pristina said that the fight against corruption and organized crime continues to be among the greatest challenges of the judicial system in Kosovo. Speaking on Kosovo police, she said that people in Kosovo are less satisfied with the work of the Kosovo Police (43%) compared to Kosovo Security Force (67%), firefighters (65%) and KFOR (62%).

Public opinion on EU integration

{image2}Support to EU membership is highest in Albania, strong in Kosovo, and on the rise in Serbia.

“About 90% of Albanian population say yes to EU integration. All political parties persive the EU agenda as their program confirmation. In Albania there is no alternative to EU membership. The question is not if, it is when“, said Duro from IDM.

Kryeziu presented the findings from KCSS public opinion survey.

“The EU is perceived as friendly by 70% of people in Kosovo. On the other side, only one third of respondents is satisfied with the EULEX work. Potential reason for that is limited to no communication with EULEX – 93% of people had no contact at all with this institution“, said Kryeziu.

Elek said the BCSP public opinion survey from late 2013 shows that 56% of people in Serbia support EU membership. As he stated, people believe that corruption level will be lower and that economic situation will be better because of EU integrations. Elek also pointed out that significant percentage of citizens see Russia as alternative of joining EU, and some of them think that it would be the best to be neutral or only join in Europen Economic Area.

BCSP Intern Milica Milenkovic contributed to this report