“EU integration is like eating an elephant …
… you
have to do it in small pieces in order to get to the end.”
Mattias Hallstrom, Political Advisor for the EUSR in Kosovo,
gave the students of the Frang Bardhi secondary school in
Mitrovica a descriptive explanation to say that Kosovo still
has a long road to go towards EU integration. He also
underlined that only hard work and commitment of the
people of Kosovo can move things forward. “You should know
that the EU integration is not a competition, it is a road
where people should get together and enjoy their rights and
live in peace.
After the lecture students had many questions for Mr. Hallstrom as
for example why there are countries that still have their
own currency and yet they are members of the EU. He
replayed, “People
of Sweden seem to like their Krona (Swedish currency) very
much, even though we are not using Euro we are integrated
into EU, it will be easier for Kosovo to deal with the
global economic crisis is because you are using the Euro.”
He then was asked about Kosovo’s integration into EU and how
long will EU stay in Kosovo and the time that will take for
Kosovo to get fully integrated:”This
is rather a question of commitment. EU will stay in Kosovo
as long as it takes for Kosovo to integrate into EU. Knowing
that Kosovo is a new country, it is easier for Kosovo to
move forward and integrate into EU than it was for Sweden
which had to change most of its legal frameworks to get
integrated into EU. Kosovo has a long way to go and that
will happen because people of Kosovo are very committed and
very friendly and speak many languages”