08 June – EU teach a day in elementary school Abdyl Frasheri in Prizren

“Kosovo is wanted and will make it to the EU; there are only some rules in between”

Aemilia Maniataki, the Deputy Head of Greek Liaison Office in Prishtina lectured to schoolchildren of the elementary school Avdyl Frashëri in Prizren today. She started the lecture by asking children whether they know what the European Union is all about. The response she got from children was: “European Union is about peace and cooperation, and it is a Union of developed states”.  Then she asked children: “Do you want to be part of that Union?” All the children answered positively in one voice. They were convinced that Kosovo will be part of the EU and that most of the EU wants them in their midst, once “they meet the rules”.

Ms. Maniataki then explained to them how the EU was formed, with countries choosing economic cooperation to leave the long time conflicts behind and to work for the benefit of their citizen. But most of the time she engaged in conversation with the children and offered them the possibility to ask more questions.

Children asked her whether all the European countries respect ‘the rules’ and if not whether the EU would then chose to expel these countries. “I will give you one example when one country did not respect the rules as it should  and now is in a bit of trouble and that is my country. But now with the help of our European Union partners we will overcome the situation”, she answered. “But the European Union members are permanent, that is why it is not so easy to join, you have to meet so many standards”. Another question was “why has Greece not recognised Kosovo” to which she replied that this is not because Greeks don’t like Kosovo. “It doesn’t mean that the countries that haven’t recognised your independence don’t like you, on the contrary we do, a lot, and we contribute a lot for a European perspective for Kosovo. It is more because of our internal considerations”, she said.