Pristina sees the EFB/Gallup roadshow make its final call

The final stop of the Gallup/EFB roadshow was on February 25 in Pristina. EFB Executive Director Hedvig Morvai-Horvat introduced the event and Robert Manchin, Gallup Europe’s CEO, presented the Kosovo results of the latest survey. These showed that Kosovo citizens were the most optimistic in the Western Balkans region: almost half (48%) felt the country was heading in the right direction (48%). The survey also revealed that external actors, and especially NATO, were the most trusted institutions among Kosovo Albanians (90% had a lot or some trust in the Aliance). Corruption in the government, however, was perceived as rising (87% of Kosovo citizens felt that way, a figure only surpassed in the Bosnian Federation), and only 3 in 10 (31%) thought the government was doing everything it could to fight organised crime.

On the panel, the New Kosovo Alliance’s Mimoza Kusari-Lila said that Kosovo Albanians’ optimism was a result of a lack of information and would not last forever; as economic problems would become more apparent. Ilir Deda, of the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development, explained that the high “pro-American stance” of Kosovar Albanians was understandable, as many people believed that the US, and not the EU, had brought them independence. He added that the rising support for Greater Albania among Kosovo Albanians should not be seen as simply a drive towards national unity, but also as a rational move based on economics. Deda reasoned that unification with “the wider economic space of Albania” was perceived as a path towards a better life.