Kosovo citizens to head to polls amid ailing economy and continued ethnic tension

euronews (in English)

Whatever the result of Sunday's election, the next government will have to tackle increasing poverty and counter the threats of renewed ethnic violence in the country's north.

Transcript

00:00Kosmans are set to head to the polls amidst an ailing economy and reignited ethnic tensions

00:07between Albanians and Serbs, with legislative elections taking place this Sunday.

00:14Forecasts predict ethnic Albanian Prime Minister Albin Kursi could win a slim majority.

00:19Whatever the result, the next government will have to tackle increasing poverty to counter

00:24the threat of rising ethnic violence in the north.

00:29There is no ethnic conflict in Kosovo.

00:33There is an economic problem in Kosovo, which Kosovo should solve for all communities in Kosovo.

00:43That means for Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Turks, so to raise the standard of living.

00:52That is the biggest problem. How?

00:55A recent World Bank report has Kosovo as the European country where the poverty rate is being reduced the slowest.

01:03Ordinary people struggle against inflation and a failed economy, according to this Serbian activist.

01:13On a high level, with politicians, with the government in Pristina, with the government in Belgrade,

01:19it's pretty much stuck and going nowhere.

01:23But on the low level, people are interacting, people are, you know, living their lives simply.

01:34Outgoing Prime Minister Kursi and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have been criticized

01:39for revamped polarization between Pristina and Serbs.

01:44It's quite open, despite the fact that when you're a journalist, you tend to be more...

01:48What he, at least till this stage, failed is to make people living in the north to basically embrace his policies.

02:00And that is a difficult, and the most difficult step, I think, because, as we know, the people in the north of Kosovo,

02:09not that they are only controlled by Belgrade, but their pensions, their health care and education system is being paid by Serbia.

02:19The result of decades of unresolved conflict following Kosovo's war of independence from Serbia

02:24is structural economic problems pushing educated young people to migrate elsewhere in Europe.

02:31Kosovo currently depends on the international donations.

02:35And, I mean, without those international donations, Kosovo will not be sustainable at all.

02:45It's like one of the poorest economies in Europe.

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