19 May - Frang Bardhi school in Mitrovica

“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”