Trading with the enemy in Mitrovica, Kosovo. - RUhosting

Another important reason why reconciliation programmes have not achieved results is because of the current
political climate (respondent #13, #14, #17). “Reconciliation is impossible with the current political climate.
There are millions little cases of reconciliation, but then Belgrade steps in and says “All Albanians are our
enemies”” (respondent #17). Especially in Mitrovica reconciliation is very difficult, if not impossible. Some
people say it would be better to work on improving inter-ethnic relations in the enclaves (respondent #3,
#16). “I don't believe in reconciliation in Mitrovica. To achieve something you have to work in less volatile
environments. In 2004 is was better in Mitrovica then now” (Respondent #13). It became worse in Mitrovica
because of the riots in 2004, because of the independence and because Serbs feel themselves more and more
being under threat (respondent #13). “The independence set us back 5 years: Serbs said “I will never believe
in Kosovo again”” (respondent #14).
The most simple and most extreme explanation for the lack of success of reconciliation efforts was given by
respondent #16 who believes reconciliation programmes are not working because their goal is not realistic:
that creating an integrated society in Kosovo with Albanians and Serbs having contact is impossible because
it's a myth that never really existed.
In short, this paragraph has established that reconciliation and improving inter-ethnic relations is deemed to
be very important for a better and more peaceful future of Kosovo. But reconciliation programmes –
specifically aimed at this task – have proven not to be successful so far. On top of that the local population
has a very negative attitude regarding those programmes, or at the very least has no real interest in them.
This is an obvious problem, Kosovo has a 'disease' but the 'cure' does not work.
The inhabitants of the Balkans have a reputation of being very focussed on their history, at least that's the
stereotype. Several times it was mentioned to me that perhaps Europeans should look a bit more at their own
history because it might hold some useful information: people pointed out how Europe did not have any
reconciliation programmes but still was able to reconcile after the biggest war history had ever seen (field
notes, respondent #2, #13). Europe had something instead of reconciliation programmes though: economic
interest.
5.3. A failing economy makes peace more difficult.
There is a strong link between economic development and inter-ethnic relations according both to theory and
my interviews. As it has been discussed in the previous chapter how Kosovo's economy is performing poorly
and especially the unemployment rate is dramatic, this doesn't bode well for Kosovo's inter-ethnic relations. I
never asked questions specifically about the general economic development or its relation to inter-ethnicity
during my interviews but many people started talking about the economy regardless of this. The views of the
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