Page 45 - bne magazine February 2024_20240206

bne February 2024 Southeast Europe I 45
"They want to increase to 350 armoured vehicles, they want in 2027 to have 5,500, as they say, professional soldiers in the KBS and another 20,000 in the first reserve. Those are their plans. There are no surprises for us. America is leading it,” he added.
Vucic claimed that within the region. Pristina has the fastest growing budget for the army and the police.
Vucic, meanwhile, also detailed steps taken to build up Serbia’s military capacity, including by equipping its air defence system.
Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic recently proposed restoring compulsory military service. It is 13 years since Serbia scrapped compulsory military service back in 2011 as part of its efforts to transition towards a more professional armed forces.
The potential sale of Javelins to Kosovo, which still has to be approved by the US State Department, includes 246 missiles. The prime contractors for
the Javelin missiles will be the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missiles and Defence.
They are intended to strengthen Kosovo's long-term defence capabilities to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, meeting its national defence requirements, a statement from the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said. The agency considers the sale and support of the missiles will not alter the fundamental military balance in the region.
Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show a strong increase in Serbian military spending from a low of $710mn in 2016 to as high as $1.4bn in 2022.
The Balkan Defence Monitor published by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) showed that Serbia’s defence spending also rose strongly as a share of GDP. As of 2022, it was the only country in the Western Balkans
to spend 2% of GDP on defence.
Over a quarter of Kosovan adults consider emigrating after gaining visa-free travel to the EU
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
About 28% of Kosovo citizens aged 18 and above are contemplating emigrating in the first half of 2024, after EU visa liberalisation become available for the tiny Balkan country starting from January 1, according to a study conducted
by Kosovo’s GAP Institute and published on January 12.
The study showed that the age group under 24 is the most inclined to emigrate, with 33.4% expressing a desire to relocate.
The report titled "Tendency to Emigrate from Kosovo after Visa Liberalization: The Impact on the Workforce", sheds light on the anticipated repercussions of citizen emigration on Kosovo's labour market.
In terms of sectors, the report identifies construction (18.7%), hotel and gastronomy (18.7%), trade (18.1%) and production (12.9%) as the most vulnerable to employee departures in the short and medium term.
These sectors, despite having a high workforce and productivity, grapple with persistently low wages. The report suggests that salary increments are anticipated in these fields compared to others, pointing to a shift observed in 2023, where 27.4% of surveyed employees reported a wage increase.
There were already concerns in some sectors that the new visa-free regime would encourage Kosovans to leave their home country for EU member states, despite the growth of better-paying jobs in sectors such as ICT.
Germany stands out as the top destination for citizens intending to emigrate, as the preferred country for 71.4% of the planned relocations. Switzerland follows with 11.7%, and Austria with 5.3%.
The report delves into historical emigration trends, revealing that from 2012 to 2022, over 338,000 citizens left Kosovo.
In 2022 alone, 41,553 citizens emigrated, leading to a decrease of 21,571 individuals in the active workforce and 14,698 in the inactive workforce.
The report stresses that without activating the inactive labour force, which is currently substantial, the replacement of missing labour by foreign immigrants remains inadequate.
In 2022, 2,979 foreign nationals immigrated to Kosovo for employment reasons, covering less than 14% of the labour force that exited the market.
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