The BIRN-office is located in the centre of town of Prishtina, in the student's mess of the university. The city was in some sort of chaos yesterday, due to snowfall. The traffic was just gliding trough the slippery roads.
When I discovered the office (it was hard to find), I found myself following different arrows, revealing a huge office place with a beautiful wooden floor. I introduced myself to a young woman who was working at one of them, and she told me that Krenar Gashi was going to be late because of the snow. I filled my time studying a huge, detailed geographic map of Kosovo (which I would have liked very much as a souvenir) and chatting to this nice dude who came in after 10 minutes and said he visits Belgium regularly when he heard of my country of origin (he actually even spoke some words of Dutch). Some time later, Krenar Gashi arrived, and we installed ourselves at his desk. Recording the interview wasn't a problem.
BIRN stands for investigative journalism, organising debate and editing independent, investigative reports.
"Yes, you have these huge lignite deposits in Kosovo, and that is a big opportunity for the economy. But most of the infrastructure was destroyed after the war and still suffers from that", said Gashi.
"Kosovo isn't now be able to deploy its energy infrastructure. We are depending on old electricity systems , but now with a doubled electricity consumption. Kosovo simply uses too much energy for its infrastructure. And you have these three categories of payers, A, B and C, who are provided with energy by the pace they pay. So if you are a C payer for instance, you can wait for electricity for hours after a power cut. But there simply isn't any structure in this."
(Gashi states himself as an 'A' payer. And yes, power cuts are part of daily life in Prishtina, I am talking from expercience).
"If there would be more money invested in education, the young population would also be an opportunity. They just need to be properly educated. Young people are facing unemployment, and so they represent this general problem in this society."
"Schools are also just thinking in local terms, while education has to be more internationally, or at least, regionally orientated. When young people leave school here, they just doesn't seem to be ready for the business world. And we have this brain drain, the migration of well-educated youngsters, from the beginning of the nineties. Kosovans from the diaspora are simply more productive."
"I just wanted the Kosovan citizens to be more critical towards the local politics. Now you have the media fulfilling that role, but every election people tend to vote not critically enough for the politicians. The Kosovan political class has already proved its inadequacy for me. And only the international organisations are held responsible for the failures made."
"We need this final status, just to bring more responsibilities to the local level, just to create awareness and just to make enterprises and businessmen invest more. I mean, this country needs to be as liberal as possibile, socially owned enterprises just need to be privatized as soon as possible. In my eyes, you don't have any economy now." Krenar Gashi, BIRN Kosovo editor
If you can say one thing about Mr Gashi, it is that he clearly has a vision about the economic future of Kosovo. Not just basic, but well underlined and intellectually based.
"We don't have much transparency in what is going on now on the economic side. There is a lack of good legislation", he states, while the other BIRN contributors are working occupiedly further, sometimes clearly much more listening to our talk. "Kosovo has still to create a primal framework for earning taxes, because now there are many enterprises that don't do that properly. I mean, the government can just double its budget if the taxes are rightly earned."
"Independence is an evolution, a process, not a fact on its own. This country has many chances and can boast a halthy economy, but you have this big 'IF'. If There will be more invested, if the status will be determined - and that's the very beginning - and if the power system will be modernised and expanded. And yes, the Serbian minority shall have to participate in this economy, because in the future, they will realise that Serbia won't be coming back, even if they don't accept independence the coming 10 years. Kosovo is now just some good PR for Serbian politicians, a good marketing issue." Krenar Gashi, BIRN Kosovo editor
My head was buzzing after the interview. Not in a difficult way, but just by the range of different definitions and views Mr gashi offered me. Clearly this was a very good interview. But maybe you already figured this out.
Amd there is muc more. But publishing this without analysing - I know feel that I can even more analyse what is written above - wouldn't seem a good idea.
The general analysis of all my interviews and stories will come within a few days anyway. I just need some time.
After noon, Prishtina was slowly adapting to the snowy reality. I had some other talk - that won't be published, it was just private - with Labinot Haxhiu, a guy that I met while drinking with the OSCE-guys two days before. We took our time, and sure, it was even knowledge - acquiring too.
I went to bed at 9.30PM. Early for me,but I felt that I had to. And even then I couldn't get asleep quickly. It is the rate, the rythm of Prishtina that is in my nerves. This is a young city, making noise and offering some of the best dynamism I ever felt. Maybe this is just the biggest opportunity for this country. Living Fast.
More info on BIRN: http://www.birn.eu.com
I would like to thank Mr Krenar Gashi for his contribution. And also for the nice welcome I receive at the BIRN office.
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