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PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN

THE WESTERN BALKANS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE, EURASIA, AND 

EMERGING THREATS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

APRIL 29, 2015

Serial No. 114–30

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

CURT CLAWSON, Florida 

SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee 

REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin 

DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan 

LEE M. ZELDIN, New York 

TOM EMMER, Minnesota 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas 

ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE, EURASIA, AND EMERGING THREATS

DANA ROHRABACHER, California, Chairman 

TED POE, Texas 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin 

DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Mr. Hoyt Brian Yee, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and 

Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State ...................................................... 3

Ms. Susan Fritz, Acting Assistant Administrator, Europe and Eurasia Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development ............................................ 14

Mr. Ivan Vejvoda, senior vice president, Programs, German Marshall Fund 

of the United States ............................................................................................. 36

The Honorable Joseph J. DioGuardi, president, Albanian American Civic 

League (former Member of Congress) ................................................................ 47

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Mr. Hoyt Brian Yee: Prepared statement .............................................................. 6

Ms. Susan Fritz: Prepared statement .................................................................... 16

Mr. Ivan Vejvoda: Prepared statement .................................................................. 39

The Honorable Joseph J. DioGuardi: Prepared statement .................................. 50

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 64

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 65

The Honorable Joseph J. DioGuardi: 

Article by Ms. Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi entitled ‘‘Confronting the Roots 

of Kosovo’s Downward Spiral’’ ......................................................................... 66

Article by Erwan Foue ́re ́ entitled ‘‘Gruevski Must Resign and Make Way 

For Transition Process’’ .................................................................................... 69

(1)

PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN THE 

WESTERN BALKANS 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE, EURASIA, AND EMERGING THREATS,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o’clock p.m., in 

room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dana Rohrabacher 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I call to order this hearing of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats. Today’s 

topic is progress and challenges in the Western Balkans. 

After the ranking member and I each take 5 minutes to make 

opening remarks, each other member, if they so choose, will have 

the opportunity for making an opening statement as well. We will 

then proceed with our first panel of witnesses and without objection, all members will have 5 days to submit their statements or 

questions or extraneous material for the record. Hearing no objection, so ordered. 

It has been almost exactly 2 years since the last time the subcommittee held a hearing on this region. I am pleased to again be 

returning to this important topic and to be able to hear from such 

informed witnesses. We all know the tragic history of the breakup 

of Yugoslavia during the 1990s. Yet, it is remarkable that today, 

every country in the region, including Serbia, is in some way seeking greater integration with European institutions. I congratulate 

Croatia, for example, which is perhaps the foremost example of this 

on their successful accession into the European Union in 2013. And 

while the region has witnessed some major steps forward over the 

last two decades including the independence of Kosovo, the pace of 

progress appears to have slowed and perhaps even regressed in certain cases. 

Later this year, we will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the 

Dayton Peace Accords which ended the Bosnian War. Reaching 

that agreement was an admirable diplomatic accomplishment. Yet, 

the political framework that ended the fighting has proven structurally unable to build a state which governs effectively or meets 

the expectations of its people. 

I noted that over the weekend, the leader of the Republic of 

Srpska called for a referendum to determine if the Serb enclave in 

Bosnia should break away unless it is granted further autonomy. 

Clearly, the current arrangement in Bosnia is not working. In MacVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:15 Jun 10, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_EEET\042915\94387 SHIRL
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edonia, the exposure of a massive internal surveillance scheme has 

rocked that small nation, highlighting the immense challenges of 

building a state which respects the rule of law and the rule of law 

both inside the government and the rule of law outside the government. 

Next door, EU brokered peace talks between Serbia and Kosovo 

just a few years ago, resulting in an agreement entitled ‘‘Principles 

of Governing the Normalization of Relations.’’ While we are all 

happy that a solution was reached between these two sides, there 

remains ample reason for concern. I remain doubtful about the 

prospect of integrating Serbs, for example, who live in the northern 

part of Kosovo and I am somewhat doubtful about them integrating 

into the rest of the country. If the Serb community in the northern 

part of Kosovo which is to be governed by Belgrade, we should acknowledge their right to determine for themselves what country 

they will live in and make their own self-determination. This is the 

same principle, I might add, that led us to support the Albanian 

Kosovars in their desire for self-determination two decades ago. 

In closing, the Western Balkans collectively have been aided by 

deployment of at least three separate NATO missions which included a significant contingent of U.S. military personnel who I visited over the years. Billions of dollars have been spent by the European Union and our own Government to support economic development, reduce ethnic tensions, and build modern states. Between 

1990 and 2012, USAID spent over $1.7 billion aid dollars to help 

the Western Balkans. And what has that huge sum of money accomplished over the years? What about the diplomatic accomplishments, what have they achieved or what are their efforts anyway? 

And has outside engagement reached an effective limit there in 

that part of the world? And to get answers for some of those questions and others, we will hear from our witnesses today. 

Panel 1, first of all—Mr. Sires, would you like to have an opening 

statement? And then I will introduce the witnesses. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing 

today to evaluate the state of the affairs in the Balkans. Since the 

mid-1990s, the region has undergone a great transformation as the 

wars have ended and political and economic reforms have set in. 

The region also progressed toward greater integration with European and transatlantic institutions. While great improvements 

have been made in the Balkans, various challenges still remain including dealing with the impact of Kosovo’s independence and the 

on-going fight against organized crime and corruption in the region. 

As we have witnessed over the past year, Russia continues to get 

influence outside of the borders, forcing the surrounding regions, 

including the Balkans to be on high alert. More than ever, it is imperative that we continue to be engaged in the Balkans to ensure 

democracy, security, and prosperity in the region. And I look forward to hearing from the esteemed panels that we have today. 

Thank you. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right, we will proceed. And when Congressman Meeks arrives, he will be free to have his opening statement as well. 

3

Our witnesses for Panel 1 are Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoyt 

Yee who is appointed to his current position in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in September 2013. He is a career foreign service officer and previously stationed in Montenegro, in 

Greece, and most recently, as the DCM in Croatia. So he obviously 

knows the region. 

Susan Fritz is the Acting Assistant Administrator for USAID in 

Europe and Eurasia Bureau. She is a 25-year veteran of USAID 

and has significant experience in the region as well. She served as 

the Mission Director in Serbia and the Deputy Mission Director for 

Kosovo. So with that said, I will introduce the second panel when 

you are done. If you could proceed with 5 minute opening statements. The rest of your statement will be made part of the record 

and then we will proceed. 

Mr. Yee. 

STATEMENT OF MR. HOYT BRIAN YEE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, BUREAU OF EUROPEAN AND EURASIAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

Mr. YEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Rohrabacher, Representative Sires, members of the subcommittee, I 

want to thank you for inviting me and my colleague, Susan Fritz, 

to appear before you today to discuss the Western Balkans 20 years 

since the Dayton Accords were signed. We are deeply grateful to 

the Congress and this subcommittee, in particular, for your interest 

in the Western Balkans which are an integral part of our vision of 

a Europe, whole, free, and at peace. Your engagement with senior 

Balkan officials, both here and in the region has sent a powerful 

signal that the United States remains committed to the region’s future. 

Today that vision is more under threat than any time since the 

end of the Cold War. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and ISIL’s 

reign of terror in Syria and Iraq have underlined the geostrategic 

importance of a strong, stable Europe including in the Western 

Balkans. In this new context, our work with Balkan partners to 

create a space for free markets and free peoples is more important 

than ever. 

EU and NATO membership, aided by U.S. engagement and assistance remains the transformative political and economic force for 

the Western Balkans. Progress is happening. Albania and Croatia 

joined NATO in 2009. Croatia became the 28th EU member in 

2013. Montenegro is making steady progress on EU accession negotiations and is intent on qualifying for NATO membership. Albania’s recent elections were the best democratic transition in that 

country’s history. Serbia and Kosovo are making landmark 

progress toward normalization. And lastly, Bosnia and Herzegovina 

has negotiated its EU Stabilization and Association Agreement. I 

would like to give just a quick update on the region’s seven countries. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains one of 

the poorest countries in Europe and lags far behind the rest of the 

region in reforms needed for membership in the European Union 

and NATO. To catch up, Bosnia and Herzegovina will need to accelerate reforms. We and our European partners have urged Bosnia 

4

and Herzegovina to begin with socio-economic reforms that can 

make a tangible impact in the lives of Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens. These initial reforms must lead to institutional and political 

reforms that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to become a stable, 

functional state, fully integrated with the rest of Europe. We believe that the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina lies in the EU and 

NATO, and like all other candidates Bosnia and Herzegovina will 

have to undertake substantial reform. 

With the recent establishment of new state and entity-level governments that have reaffirmed their commitment to reform, we are 

hopeful the countries’ leaders can deliver results. 

Serbia. Serbia continues to improve relations with its neighbors 

and to build a stronger partnership with the European Union and 

the United states. 

In January, Serbia assumed the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, and Serbia’s leadership thus far has shown a strong commitment to supporting the organization’s founding principles. We continue to support Serbia’s aspirations to join the European Union and to commend Serbia’s progress toward this goal. 

Serbia has also recently taken steps to maintain constructive relations with neighbors, including Belgrade’s hosting of Albanian 

Prime Minister Rama in November 2014, the first visit at that 

level between the two countries in 68 years. Most encouraging, Serbia’s commitment to the EU-led Brussels dialogue with Kosovo has 

resulted in more normalized relationships, increased regional security, and mutual understanding. 

Kosovo. Seven years after its declaration of independence, Kosovo 

has taken great strides to develop as a full sovereign, independent 

state. We continue to support Kosovo in its efforts to build a modern, multiethnic state with inclusive, democratic institutions. With 

the strong support of EU High Representative Mogherini, considerable progress on the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue has been made since 

both sides reconvened in February 2015, including with agreements 

to unify Kosovo’s judicial system and to integrate the Kosovo-Serb 

Civilian Protection Corps into Kosovo institutions. 

We also support the establishment of a Special Court to deal 

with the allegations contained in the 2011 Council of Europe report 

and urge Kosovo’s leaders to take steps to approve the necessary 

legal framework. 

Albania. Albania has seen significant democratic progress since 

the ending of oppressive communist rule 20 years ago. Last June, 

the European Council granted Albania EU country candidate status. In granting the status, the Council highlighted Albania’s efforts at countering corruption and organized crime, and implementing judicial reform. 

With over 1 year in office, the new government continues to hold 

Albania’s strong partnership with the United States as a key strategic priority. We recently signed a U.S.-Albania strategic partnership, outlining key areas of cooperation, including security, rule of 

law, economic development and energy security. Nevertheless, 

much work lies ahead. 

5

Despite receiving EU candidate status, Albania will face significant challenges implementing the reforms necessary for beginning 

EU accession talks. 

Montenegro. Montenegro which began EU accession talks in 

June 2013 has come a long way. However, the European Union 

noted in October, a lack of credible investigations, prosecutions, 

and final convictions in corruption cases and serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the media. 

NATO has also urged Montenegro to strengthen the rule of law 

to improve its case for receiving an invitation to join NATO by the 

end of 2015. We agree with our NATO allies that no one outside 

the 28 member states, including Russia can interfere with or veto 

NATO’s decisions on membership. We are also concerned about the 

relatively low level of Montenegrin public support for NATO membership, currently about 38 percent. Our hope is that Montenegro 

will accelerate the pace of its efforts and put its best case forward 

this year. 

Macedonia. We support Macedonia’s aspirations to join NATO 

and the European Union. Recently, however, we and our European 

partners have been following with concern the domestic political 

crisis in Macedonia related to the release of wiretap information by 

the head of the main opposition party. We are urging the government to address the leaked information in a way that demonstrates 

its commitment to Euro-Atlantic principles. We are encouraging 

the opposition which is currently boycotting Parliament to return 

to that body and help resolve the crisis. We are also concerned 

about a growing divide between the ethic-Macedonian majority and 

ethnic-Albanian minority communities. 

Macedonia’s integration into the EU and NATO remains important for achieving lasting peace and stability in the region. With 

a new government in Athens, we continue to urge both sides to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution to the so-called name issue 

which has blocked the country’s Euro-Atlantic prospects. 

Croatia. In July 2013, Croatia became the newest EU member 

and is now sharing lessons it learned with its neighbors who aspire 

to join the EU and NATO. Yet, challenges still lie ahead. The economy has contracted for the last 6 years, causing high unemployment and deterring further foreign investment. We encourage Croatia to take steps to improve the business climate, attract more investment and foster private sector led growth. Although much more 

work needs to be done, we welcome the recent tender for a business 

plan to develop the liquid natural gas, or LNG, terminal on Krk 

Island. The realization of this terminal will not only help Croatia 

reduce dependency on Russia or any other single source of gas, but 

also provide energy diversification for other central European countries who are much more dependent on Russian energy supplies. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Meeks, members of 

the subcommittee. I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Yee follows:]

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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much. We have been joined 

by Mr. Meeks and with your permission, Mr. Meeks, I will have 

Ms. Fritz’ testimony and then you will be able to give your opening 

statement, etcetera. 

STATEMENT OF MS. SUSAN FRITZ, ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, EUROPE AND EURASIA BUREAU, U.S. AGENCY 

FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Ms. FRITZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Chairman Rohrabacher, 

Ranking Member Meeks, and Congressman Sires. I want to thank 

you for the opportunity to appear before you today, along with my 

colleague, Hoyt Yee, to discuss USAID’s assistance and priorities in 

the Balkans 

The mission of the U.S. Agency for International Development is 

to partner to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity. In the 

Balkans, USAID has played a key role since the breakup of Yugoslavia, helping raise standards of living and assisting countries on 

their path toward Euro-Atlantic integration and to becoming more 

tolerant, stable, and democratic societies. USAID is committed and 

focused on how we build on this momentum to address the serious 

remaining challenges as part of a coordinated U.S. Government 

strategy. Corruption, democratic drift, fragile economies, and uncertain domestic political climates all threaten the gains made 

since the Dayton Accords were signed 20 years ago. 

Today, I would like to build on Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoyt 

Yee’s updates on the five individual countries where USAID continues to work with a particular focus on how our programs have 

impacted some of the foreign policy priorities DAS Yee mentioned, 

such as preventing violent extremism, supporting governments and 

societies in becoming more stable and resilient to potentially detrimental external influences, and strengthening the region’s economic health. 

USAID’s longstanding role in the Balkans and across Europe and 

Eurasia is to work with host countries, civil society, private sector 

and international partners to build the institutions of government, 

the economic systems, and the free civil societies that lead to democracy and prosperity. Our job is to help build the foundations of 

‘‘a Europe Whole, Free, and at Peace.’’

Let me highlight a few examples of our democracy and governance activities in the region. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, USAID’s 

assistance to Parliament staff and members has helped them to 

complete their legally mandated budget process which includes 

public debates on priorities and impact analyses, leading to more 

functional and accountable institutions across the entire government that better meet the needs of the citizens. 

In Serbia and Kosovo, our activities have strengthened rule of 

law by improving the independence, transparency, efficiency and 

professionalism of the judiciary. Our anti-corruption assistance in 

Serbia has been pivotal to increasing the transparency and overall 

capacity of key independent agencies to execute their mandates. 

In Macedonia, USAID’s media program has increased the legitimacy of independent media and strengthened freedom of expression by promoting investigative journalism and establishing a 

15

media fact-checking service which has published online more than 

a thousand peer reviews of media articles. 

In Albania, USAID is providing assistance to strengthen local 

government accountability, financing and services including the 

crafting of a fiscal decentralization framework and a critical law for 

the structuring of local government. In the economic sphere, 

USAID programs in the Balkans are bolstering entrepreneurs as 

well, as the laws and policies have let them thrive in stable financial systems. 

We help governments to establish energy policies, to diversify 

supplies, and connect to European markets, increasing safe, clean 

power for industry and citizens. 

Let me highlight a few examples of our economic growth efforts. 

In Bosnia, USAID’s assistance and loan guarantees, particularly to 

small agribusinesses is helping to increase sales and exports. Our 

Farmer Project, for example, reported increased sales for companies assisted by USAID of 54 percent over 4 years. USAID helped 

the Albanian Government to achieve critical reports in the energy 

market, resulting in the electricity company saving $75 million last 

year through implementation of practical loss reduction techniques 

that were provided by our advisors. 

USAID’s critical support to Kosovo’s Government to unbundle 

electricity distribution and supply enabled it to privatize the 

Kosovo Energy Corporation resulting in improved infrastructure investment, billing and collections, reducing technical and commercial losses. 

In Macedonia, we are helping streamline laws and regulations 

for clean, renewable energy to promote more investment in the sector. We have also expanded access to finance for small and medium 

businesses. 

In Serbia, USAID assistance was instrumental in reforming Serbia’s labor law, reducing the burdens of its inspection system and 

is modernizing its outdated construction permitting system. 

USAID is working to improve the competitiveness of the private 

sector, especially economically disadvantaged regions populated by 

ethnic minorities. 

Mr. Chairman, since Dayton, the Balkan countries have made remarkable progress in the reforms needed to further integrate into 

Euro-Atlantic institutions and to build resilient democracies. With 

that said, we know that our work in this region is far from done. 

We recognize, as you have pointed out, that there has been political 

and economic stagnation in the region. The Balkan countries where 

USAID works, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, and Bosnia and 

Herzegovina need continued U.S. engagement and attention. 

We look forward to working with you and your colleagues in Congress to strengthen U.S. engagement and more specifically, 

USAID’s activities in the Balkans to build on the progress that has 

been made to achieve our goal of a Europe, free, whole and at 

peace. 

Thank you again and I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Fritz follows:]

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Mr. ROHRABACHER. We have had two very optimistic pieces of 

testimony here. 

Mr. Meeks, would you like to have an opening statement? And 

then you may also proceed with any questions that you have for 

the witnesses. 

Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you 

for holding this hearing to provide us with the status update on the 

Western Balkans region and I look forward to working with you in 

this 114th Congress on this region and as we have been talking 

about look forward to visiting this region soon so that we can go 

and see for ourselves what is going on on the ground. 

With the West’s attention justifiably being attracted to the 

Ukraine and related issues, we must not forget the importance and 

the delicate state of progress in the Western Balkans and I am encouraged by this hearing on the region to reaffirm our stance support for its peaceful and prosperous future. 

Today’s hearing is for me an opportunity to examine the tough 

issues and potential for advancements for a region that has a lot 

of promise. The quagmire of the Balkan Wars of the 1990s gives 

us a reference point for today’s hearing. As the region spiraled into 

chaos, the United States and NATO led an international effort to 

put an end to the killing. The war set the region back in its move 

toward democracy and free-market capitalization and continued to 

haunt its citizens and policy makers. Western thinkers tend to 

present the Western Balkans’ history and current events through 

two different lenses in my opinion, one that reckons that outside 

involvement played the leading role in getting us to the wars and 

consequently the current situation, while the other claims that the 

fate of Yugoslavia was doomed regardless of what outsiders did. 

In today’s hearing, I would like to argue the role of the Balkan 

people themselves who are often dismissed in these discussions. As 

much as recently written histories and international bodies affect 

the current situations here, it is the decisions of local politicians, 

businesses, and citizens that will definitely decide where this region will go. It is up to us and Congress to support healthy democratic, economic, and peaceful progress on the ground. We, the 

United States, have invested billions of dollars and many lives in 

order to ensure peace and prosperity in the region. The people 

there who have sacrificed more deserved it. In fact, there are signs 

of promise across the region. The regions are over a decade without 

armed conflict. Croatia, a reliable NATO partner, joined the EU in 

July 2013. And Serbia is technically on track to follow suit later 

this decade. 

Freedom House named Kosovo, an electoral democracy for the 

first in their 2015 report. Montenegro recently passed substantial 

reforms to the rule of law and the defense and intelligent sectors, 

taking it closer to NATO membership. These are all encouraging 

steps in the right direction that should be recognized and supported. 

Nevertheless, change is rarely linear and we will examine the 

breaks that impede progress as they apply to specific states. Sluggish economic growth, continuing problems in the fight against corruption, and serious questions with regard to the rule of law beset 

28

the region with an undertow pulling against the progress that had 

been made. 

How can Congress support regional actors in combating these 

forces? And what about the EU? How much progress can be made 

without a bold accession strategy from the regional power, the EU. 

Ensuring the success of the region’s development and encouraging 

democratic progress is of strategic importance to the United States 

and our interest are critically linked. 

So I hope, as I have heard some of the testimony already, the 

opinions on this fascinating region, the leaders of the governments 

there should know that we are concerned with the state of affairs 

and after this hearing we look forward to following up on what is 

discussed. The fragile piece of the region is one that we, together 

with our EU partners must work hard at and encouraging. 

I look forward to a fruitful discussion and questions that we can 

explore what Congress can offer and do to help to ensure economic 

growth, equality and peace for all in the region. 

Thank you for giving me that opportunity, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. If you would like to go straight to questions, 

we will let you go first. 

Mr. MEEKS. Let me first deal first with whole piece on EU accession. And some said, the European Union has lost its magic in the 

sense, but not its importance in the region. And they fault EU expansion fatigue or the lack of progress on the part of the countries 

applying to join, but the EU integration process has definitely 

slowed. 

One could question the specific state of accession in each Western Balkan country, but how do you assess the progress as a whole 

and the trends associated with it? 

Mr. Yee? 

Mr. YEE. Thank you, Representative Meeks, for that question 

and for your comments. I believe the European Union remains 

committed to enlarging the Union and to fulfill its commitment to 

the Western Balkans to continue to integrate all the countries of 

the Western Balkans as part of the European project. 

I would agree with you, Representative Meeks, that the process 

has slowed. I think this is clearly a dynamic process in which on 

both sides there are requirements. On the European Union side the 

Union, the members of the Union want to be sure that by adding 

new members they will be, in fact, strengthening the Union, not 

weakening it, and that the members, the countries which are aspiring to membership are truly ready to meet all of the obligations including economic, as well as political to join before, in fact, they are 

taken into the Union. 

On the candidate side, the aspiring country side, I think there 

is also the need to know that by joining the Union, they will be, 

in fact, helping their people, their citizens. They will not be joining 

an economic union in which they cannot compete, in which they 

cannot afford to contribute. So I think on both sides, there are reasons for the decision to be taken extremely seriously. We, the 

United States, support very strongly the continued integration of 

the Western Balkans into the European Union and into NATO for 

that matter. 

29

Obviously, it is up to the European Union to decide the pace and 

the process and the rules for how it is going to take place. What 

we can do in order to assist the process and to the extent possible 

to facilitate it is to help the candidate countries meet the standards 

necessary in order to qualify for EU membership. There is a long 

list of reforms that each country needs to make, both economic, social, and political that in each of the cases of the aspiring countries 

we are doing our best from our Embassies, from our capitals, to 

help the country meet the reform requirement. 

In many cases, it is an issue of rule of law. The European Union 

understandably wants to ensure that corruption and organized 

crime which is, of course, a factor in all of the countries of Europe 

is something that the new members, the aspiring members are 

going to be able to effectively address so they don’t bring additional 

problems into the Union when they join. 

Mr. MEEKS. Let me ask this question and then I will yield and 

come back. One of the biggest issues that I think and that is of concern is how the aligning of energy in the region is dealt with and 

the climate policies with the principles of the EU. And I understand that this is one of the most demanding chapters that the EU 

and the EU accession, both in cost and legislation that you were 

talking about needed to be passed. Coal no longer can play such 

a role in these countries’ energy future. 

Furthermore, when we see things like Greece is entertaining 

Russia’s plans to solve some of its energy questions, what messages, if any, have we been sending from the U.S. on this front and 

how can we be sure to kind of integrate the Balkan countries in 

a new energy system? And how can we reverse this trend and aid 

the countries in their energy plans so this is lined up so that we 

can make sure we are working collectively together in that regard? 

Mr. YEE. Thank you for that question. I think the European 

Union, along with the United States and the members, the countries that are aspiring to EU membership, are all very much focused on the need to align energy strategies, national strategies in 

a way that makes each country as diversified as possible, as energy 

independent as possible and as efficient as possible in its use of 

available energy sources. 

One of our big emphases now is to help countries in the Western 

Balkans which are dependent on natural gas from a single source, 

in this case Russia, also Central Europe the same case, to be less 

dependent and to diversify the supplies and routes of gas to their 

countries. This is a particular emphasis now because in recent 

years, in 2009 and 2006 there have been cases in which natural 

gas has been cut off in the winter and countries have realized the 

need to diversify. So this has been identified as a priority by the 

European Union. 

We are working very closely with our European Union partners 

and the aspiring countries to try to develop pipeline systems that 

will ensure there is a flow of gas to the countries that are reliant 

on gas imports, so they are not reliant on one source. They can 

have more than one pipeline supply. 

Also, we are encouraging diversification of energy types, so it is 

not only gas. It is renewables. It is also domestic, indigenous exploVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:15 Jun 10, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_EEET\042915\94387 SHIRL
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ration and exploitation of energy sources. So it is not entirely just 

one country or one source. 

We are also supporting the European Union’s efforts to develop 

a common energy market in which the countries cooperate in how 

they align their energy strategies so that it is more efficient and 

they are able to deal with energy exporters, such as Russia, in a 

way that they are not divided or worked one off the other in a way 

that is not advantageous to the aspiring countries. 

Mr. MEEKS. Ms. Fritz, is there anything you want to add to that? 

Ms. FRITZ. Yes, I would like to add the problems of energy supply 

and energy issues in the region are pretty broad. They include 

short fall for a generation. They also include aging infrastructure. 

As DAS Yee mentioned, they rely on Russia for gas supply. They 

also have low tariffs and high subsidized energy prices, or I am 

sorry, highly subsidized energy prices and that also continues to 

hinder capital investment in the sector as well as promote inefficiencies. 

USAID is supporting these countries on diversifying their energy 

supply by supporting infrastructure investments. We, over the last 

10 years, have worked with transmission operators within the 

countries to highlight and outline and identify the most at-risk infrastructure and to bring World Bank and local resources to the 

tune of $1 billion. So we have improved the connectivity between 

the countries so that when you have an excess producer like Bosnia 

or Albania, that they can share, they can trade their energy resources with countries that don’t have enough. 

We also work heavily in improving energy efficiency. We do that 

because these systems are highly inefficient. If we can save the 

amount of energy that they are using, then that not only is it environmentally better, but financially it helps them as well. The example I used in my testimony was an example of Albania where 

we provided $300,000 worth of technical assistance and advice to 

help them to reduce losses in their system. They basically reaped 

$75 million worth of rewards from that effort. 

In addition, the World Bank is putting up a loan of $150 million 

to Albania for energy and USAID has been asked by the Albanian 

Government to help them to manage those resources in the best 

way possible. So our assistance is helping to facilitate trade in the 

region, improve energy efficiency and also to address some of the 

infrastructure issues in the region. 

Mr. MEEKS. Thank you. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you, Mr. Meeks. So you just mentioned energy efficiency. Is the level of energy production increased 

in these last 20 years in that region? 

Ms. FRITZ. I will have to get back to you on actual figures. I do 

not know. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. You know about efficiency, but you don’t 

know if there is more energy available for the region? 

Ms. FRITZ. I do know that the needs will grow as the economies 

do grow in the region and I can get back to you on that. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. The economies are growing in the region? 

Ms. FRITZ. Yes, they are. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. What is the growth rate for these countries? 

31

Ms. FRITZ. They have slowed. After 2008, the economy slowed 

and in some cases reversed. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. No, but I mean do you have a growth rate 

like they have grown at an average of 2 percent a year, 3 percent 

a year or something like that? 

Mr. YEE. Overall, in the Balkans, the growth rate has been about 

10 percent since 1990. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. 10 percent since 1990, so that is 1⁄2 percent 

per year, is that what you are talking about? 

Mr. YEE. It has been very slow. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So that is not really good growth at all, is it? 

That, in fact, would be considered pretty much stagnation, wouldn’t 

it? 

Ms. FRITZ. Well, for countries coming out of war, I think it is understandable. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. In fact, it is just the opposite, is it not, when 

someone is coming out of a conflict that is when they have the 

highest rate of growth as compared to later on once their economy 

has been solidified? I think your calculus is wrong there. 

Let me ask you this about—so it doesn’t appear that there has 

been much economic progress because everybody seems to be looking about being in the EU and that is going to be the big solution 

and we know Croatia has at least become part of the EU. 

What is it that they have to do? What are some of the requirements for all these other countries that the EU is making demands 

that they do this, this, and this? Could you give me three of the 

demands that are being made of these struggling countries? 

Mr. YEE. Well, thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. The 

answer is that for each of the countries it is slightly a different 

case on what they need to do. One of the main things that each 

country needs to be able to do is to make the economy competitive 

with other members of the European Union. So it is spending levels with respect to GDP. It is ability to meet expenses, state expenses, maintain a budget in other words. It is ability to collect 

taxes, pay pensions, basic things that any economy in the world 

would need to do, it needs to be done in a certain level. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So before they can become part of the EU, 

demands that are being made are that they have to set up a system that is approved by the EU in terms of their tax collection 

would you say? 

Mr. YEE. It has to meet the EU standards, Mr. Chairman. So 

across the board in economic criteria of what is needed in order to 

have a healthy economy within the European Union, the EU has 

certain standards. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So it has been 20 years and you are just talking about structural changes that what you are suggesting now are 

sort of what could be made by democratic government. They could 

say we are going to collect our taxes in a different way, etcetera. 

So what is the hold up? 

Mr. YEE. Well, the economy, of course, Mr. Chairman, is one big 

factor. There is also the judiciary. There is the public administration. There is the rule of law overall that needs to be met, the ability to fight corruption and organized crime, the ability of a government to meet its defense and security needs, basically to fit in with 

32

the rest of the other 28 members. And as we have seen in the case 

with Croatia, it was able to meet the standards with difficulty, of 

course, with numerous reforms, changes including to its constitution. Croatia was able to meet those demands. 

Montenegro is also making progress. They have opened, I believe, 

about 18 negotiating chapters with the European Union, so they 

are moving ahead. It is a slow and difficult process, but countries 

have shown that with the right political will, with the right economic conditions, discipline, they are able to make progress on that 

track. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Making progress means nothing then unless 

they are part of the EU. I mean I hear this making progress, I 

mean I managed to get up and get out of bed today. It seems to 

me what we have is a total stagnation for 20 years in the largest 

part of what was a conflict situation. 

And Ms. Fritz, I am sorry, that after wars is when economies 

grow at their fastest rate actually. And it is when you are rebuilding your economy that you have growth. That is by definition, but 

we haven’t had that growth. And it seems to me what we are doing 

today is we are not celebrating the Dayton Accords. We are marking the fact that they happened 20 years ago. 

And it didn’t sound like, to me, that you were telling me that we 

are actually making progress toward taking care of parts into the 

corruption issue. So the corruption issue is one of the issues keeping these countries out of the EU. Is that correct? 

Mr. YEE. That is correct, Mr. Chairman. The ability to fight corruption, organized crime, other serious criminal issues is an important factor being weighed by the European Union as it considers 

members. 

Could I also add, Mr. Chairman, that I would agree with you 

completely that the progress in Western Balkans has not been as 

fast and as far as we would like and I think the countries of the 

region themselves would agree that the European Union would 

agree. However, as you mentioned yourself, Mr. Chairman, in your 

opening remarks, there has been progress. Croatia has joined the 

European Union and the NATO alliance. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. We can keep talking about Croatia, but let 

us talk about, for example, Serbia. Would you say that they continue to have high level corruption problems in Serbia? 

Mr. YEE. Serbia, Mr. Chairman, is actually, I think, a bright spot 

on the Western Balkan map. In terms of its accession to the European Union, they have reached an agreement brokered by the European Union with Kosovo on normalization of relations. This has 

allowed them to become a candidate—to open accession negotiations with the European Union, so they are moving ahead. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I think the question was about corruption. 

Mr. YEE. Fighting corruption is one of the challenges that they 

as well as the other Western Balkans countries face. It certainly 

is an issue of concern. It is one of the areas in which——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So give me a reading there for Serbia, the 

Serbian Government in terms of their effort to eliminate corruption. Sounds like you are giving them an A, but when I am listening, I am trying to figure out if that is an A or——

33

Mr. YEE. Mr. Chairman, I wouldn’t want to assign a rating, but 

there are international organizations, Transparency International, 

World Economic Reform. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Is there any indication that there are politically-motivated persecutions going on and prosecutions going on in 

Serbia today? 

Mr. YEE. Politically-motivated prosecutions? 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Prosecutions, yes. 

Mr. YEE. None come to mind, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. You are not aware of any politically-motivated prosecutions, all right. 

Let me just, well, we will go through a second round, but Mr. 

Sires, you may proceed. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can you tell me what the 

level of influence, Russia’s influence is in the Western Balkans 

today, the Russian influence? 

Mr. YEE. Thank you for that question, Mr. Sires. Russia, like 

many other countries in Europe, is interested in increasing its influence and its business interests in the Western Balkans. We have 

seen an increase in Russian interest in the Western Balkans 

through finance, banking, through energy, where it has been 

present for some time. I think I want to start by saying that Russia 

has played a positive role in the Western Balkans in such instances, in such countries as Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Russia is a member of the Peace Implementation Council for Bosnia 

and Herzegovina. We have worked successfully with Russia at advancing shared interests in the Balkans which are including stability and security of the region. 

We, of course, are watchful of what Russia is up to the Balkans, 

particularly in light of what has happened Ukraine. We listen very 

carefully, follow very closely what Russian diplomats are saying. 

We noticed of late in last September, last fall, Mr. Lavrov made a 

statement saying that Russia considers NATO enlargement or 

NATO accession of Western Balkans to be a provocative act. We, 

of course, disagree with that. We don’t believe NATO is directed at 

any country. It is a defensive alliance. It is a positive factor of stability in the Western Balkans. So I point that out as an area which 

we disagree, but we are still able to work with Russia. I think it 

is important that we remain vigilant as to what they are actually 

doing, both in terms of their business and their political actions in 

the Western Balkans. 

Mr. SIRES. Are they nervous at all on what has happened with 

the Ukraine? Are the Balkans nervous at all after seeing what happened in Crimea and Ukraine? 

Mr. YEE. I think, Mr. Representative, it is fair to say that many 

countries in Europe, including the Western Balkans, have watched 

what Russia has done in Ukraine with great consternation and 

concern about, first of all, the stability, security of Europe, the 

strength and integrity of the European order of principles on 

which——

Mr. SIRES. But, you know, it struck me that you said the Russians have been helping these countries, and you have been working with the Russians, so which is it? I mean——

34

Mr. YEE. Mr. Representative, it is both. Russia in some occasions, in some instances is a partner with which we work not only 

in the Western Balkans. As you know, Mr. Representative, we 

work with Russia in fighting, countering violent extremism, counterterrorism, on the Iran nuclear negotiations. 

In Ukraine, we clearly have a different position. We have been 

urging our European partners and working with our Europeans to 

insist that Russia abide by its agreements that it signed. 

Mr. SIRES. Ms. Fritz, do you have anything to add to this? Can 

you add something to this? 

Ms. FRITZ. USAID is not engaged on countering Russian pressure 

or aggression in any way. We are a development agency, so no, sir. 

Mr. SIRES. You don’t want to say anything. Can you tell me what 

progress has been made since Serbia and Kosovo signed the agreement of principles governing the normalization of relations in 

2013? 

Mr. YEE. On what basis? 

Mr. SIRES. Any progress that they have made. I mean, obviously——

Mr. YEE. Yes, Representative Sires, thanks very much. That is 

actually another area where we feel there has been some progress 

made in the Western Balkans. That is the agreement between 

Kosovo and Serbia to normalize the relations in accordance with an 

agreement brokered by the European Union in April 2013. 

The progress in implementing that agreement has been slow, but 

it has been steady. We have seen even in February where the two 

sides, both countries met to work out an agreement on the integration of the judicial system throughout Kosovo for all Kosovo citizens, there are now agreements being worked out on other basic 

issues affecting citizens lives, telecoms, energy. Eventually, there 

will be——

Mr. SIRES. Do you feel that in 2015, they remain fully committed 

to this? 

Mr. YEE. Yes, absolutely, Mr. Sires. Both sides have been negotiating in good faith. Both sides see their futures linked to this process of normalization in order to gain what they both want which 

is to be integrated with the European Union. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. We will have a short second round. Mr. 

Meeks, go right ahead. 

Mr. MEEKS. Let me ask Ms. Fritz. How has the USAID programs 

in the Western Balkans helped to build tolerance between communities? And how much work remains to be done to heal some of the 

scars of the 1990s? Because to me, we want to make sure that we 

don’t ever go back there and the question of the different ethnic 

groups. And what I hope our work is is to help build that kind of 

tolerance so that we can have a more prosperous future. 

Ms. FRITZ. Thank you for that question, Mr. Meeks. We have 

continuing programs on ethnic reconciliation in all four of the 

former Yugoslav republics in which we are working. So, for example, in Bosnia, we have a variety of activities. We work in the 

schools to promote ethnic tolerance. We are working with 15 pairs 

of communities that were divided during the war to promote ethnic 

35

reconciliation between those communities. We worked with youth 

on building ethnic tolerance through sports. 

In Kosovo, our effort has been a little bit different. We have focused on helping to establish the ethnically Serb majority municipalities that came out of the Ahtisaari Plan and helping Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs to work together in building those institutions. 

In Macedonia, our focus has been totally related to the schools. 

Schools in Macedonia are mostly mono-ethnic, meaning that ethnic 

Macedonian children are in one school, ethnic Albanian kids are in 

another. So our efforts have been connecting over 260 mono-ethnic 

schools with one another so that kids have a chance to know kids 

from other ethnicities. We partnered with the Department of Defense on that project where we have renovated over 40 schools and 

have worked also with the Macedonian Government which has put 

up almost $800,000 to also renovate the schools. And local communities, local municipalities have also put up on average 30 percent 

toward the cost of those projects. This effort has impacted more 

than 20,000 kids in Macedonia. 

And then in Serbia, our efforts have been a little bit different. 

We focus on economic development in the southern part of Serbia, 

so in south Serbia where ethnic Albanians live, and in Sanjak 

where ethnic Bosniaks live, to build economic development and 

build ties between the central government and these disadvantaged 

regions. So we have different approaches in each country. It remains front and center of our concerns and our programming because of the scars from the war. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. There has been a vote called, and so I will 

have a couple of minutes for my second round of questions and 

then we will be in recess until the end of the next vote that we 

have or whatever that vote is. 

Let me ask, I guess we are opposing, Mr. Yee, the Serbian request for a referendum that they might become, leave their part of 

the government with Bosnia, is that right? And we are opposing 

that? 

Mr. YEE. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the question. I believe you 

are referring to the Republic of Srpska’s announcement or one 

party within the Republic of Srpska announced over the weekend 

in its party congress that if its goals for a greater autonomy were 

not met by, I believe, 2018, it would want to move toward independence. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Right. 

Mr. YEE. So I think as a general principle, Mr. Chairman, our 

view is that we need, the United States, needs to continue to support wholeheartedly the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that there is, in fact, a reform process underway that is led by the European Union and the United States, that 

is designed to address the desire of the people, not only the Republic of Srpska, but of the federation of the whole country in getting 

adequate——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Got it. Well, let me note that it doesn’t seem 

to me we backed the Kosovars right, so determination. And the 

Serbs certainly didn’t like that. And now when you have some 

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tion, we just seem to have a double standard. And I think that double standard is quite demonstrable over these last 20 years. 

Now what we have is then from what I am getting, I keep hearing the word progress, but it seems to me that what we have got 

is stagnation and when you have 11⁄2 or just 1⁄2 percentage economic growth a year over a 20-year period what you have are people living in desperation because that growth generally would not 

impact on some of the people who are struggling there to earn a 

living and live decent lives. But instead, quite often that type of 

growth pattern services an elite and or is syphoned off into the government in some way. 

So I am from the—I know we can use the word progress over and 

over again. I don’t get that from your testimony. I will just have 

to say that right off the bat and I think if things are not acceptable, if the status quo is not acceptable, it is only giving us this 

very low growth rate. And I might add people who are on hold to 

get into the EU for all of these years, it seems that some decisions 

need to be made to change the situation, not simply to stay on hold 

until accession into the EU will solve all of these problems. 

This hearing is now in recess and the next panel will come up 

as soon as we get back with this vote. Thank you. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. This hearing will come to order. I wonder if 

someone could close that door. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. The reason why they opened it was it got so 

warm, but now that a lot of people have left, maybe it is better. 

Just close one side. All right, close them both. The State Department has left, so it is nice and cool now. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right. For our next panel we have Ivan 

Vejvoda, senior vice president of programs, German Marshall Fund 

here in Washington, DC, from 2010 to 2013, he was the executive 

director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy Program. And before 

that, he was the advisor to the Serbian Government and a longtime advocate for democracy in the region. 

Next we have Joseph DioGuardi. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. ‘‘DioGuardi,’’ in Italian, means God protects. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. A former Member of Congress, and a prominent Albanian-American leader. He worked to focus the attention 

of the American Government on the Balkans. He is responsible for 

helping to bring about the first congressional hearing on Kosovo 

that we ever had. That goes all the way back to 1987 and today 

he is president of the Albanian American Civic League and is very 

active in the region. So we are very pleased to have both of you 

with us today. I would ask you to take 5 minutes and then we will 

go into questions from there. First, Mr. Vejvoda. 

STATEMENT OF MR. IVAN VEJVODA, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, 

PROGRAMS, GERMAN MARSHALL FUND OF THE UNITED 

STATES 

Mr. VEJVODA. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for your kind 

introduction and thank you again for organizing this hearing. As 

you said, there hasn’t been one in 2 years and I would submit to 

you that that is already a sign of progress. That means that there 

hasn’t been anything radical in the region that would provoke a 

37

hearing. And I would like to try and say why I believe there has 

been progress over all these years and it is an honor to be testifying with the Honorable DioGuardi. Thank you so much. 

This is about the integration post Second World War Europe, a 

part of Europe that was left behind the Iron Curtain. Of course, the 

former Yugoslavia was not. It was in between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, a relatively independent country in terms of its foreign 

policy. And it slumbered into complete destruction when everybody 

thought there would never be war in Europe at the end of the 20th 

century. My country disappeared in front of me and is today seven 

countries. 

Why has there been progress? Well, very simply because there 

has been serious reconciliation. We haven’t talked at all about regional cooperation which is very intense. Just to give you two examples, the military intelligences of all the countries regularly 

meet twice a year to exchange experiences, youth meets, cultural 

festivals. There has been a reconstitution of the cultural and societal space after a conflict rather rapidly. We like to say in the region, I am from Belgrade myself, that wars are quick to happen, 

but they also subside very quickly and people get back to their 

business. 

In spite of all the difficulties that remain, I need not remind you 

and this country that the scars of the Civil War remain after a long 

time, after that conflict as we celebrate 150 years of the end of the 

War. I think here we have moved very rapidly. And the fact that 

we have a European Union that is, in essence, a peace project after 

World War II and having to impede war is the main reason why 

these countries want to join, because they were not democratic. 

They were not encompassed by this peace project and the fact that 

the European Union has been so long as peace is one of the key 

reasons why they want to join. Nobody in the region is oblivious 

to the fact that Europe has problems, that the Euro zone is in crisis, that growth rates are slow. 

And let me just give you one financial statistic. Greece, at the 

height of the crisis in 2010, had a GDP of $300 billion. If you put 

all the GDPs of all the former six Yugoslav republics, it barely 

reached $200 billion. What I am saying is these are small countries. They are weak economies. They had growth rates up until 

Lehman Brothers disappeared off the streets of New York of 7 to 

8 percent. And thus, we suffered with the rest of the world back 

to low growth rates of 1 to 2 percent, minus 1 percent. And I would 

say there is nothing unusual in the Balkans about that because 

that is what happened to the rest of the world. 

These countries are highly dependent on foreign direct investments. If you look at the trade patterns, we are fully trading with 

the European Union and the United States. We have many companies from the U.S. in the region. And in fact, they were calling 

from the Senate, Chris Murphy visited the region recently and was 

able to see for himself. 

In comparison, Russia is very low on all of those charts in terms 

of aid and public forums and we can get back to that if you wish. 

So what I am saying is that the European Union has put in a 

lot of money. USAID has been a key actor as has been the U.S. 

Government. Only yesterday, the German Foreign Minister 

38

Steinmeier visited Belgrade to see how things were progressing. He 

gave high marks for the reforms in Serbia and of course, complimented both Kosovo and Serbia on the advance they were making. These are historical, difficult challenges. And the fact that the 

leaders of both Kosovo and Serbia have found it in themselves to 

make this historical compromise and to move forward with all the 

difficulties, I would submit to you that it is great progress. 

Of course, the fact that the growth rates are low that we have 

very high youth unemployment. In Bosnia, youth unemployment is 

above 60 percent. And the fact that we have a brain drain again 

is not unusual. Look at Spain. Look at Italy. Look at Portugal. Lots 

of young professionals, IT, are moving north into Scandinavia and 

into Germany. Again, I want to relativize the fact that we have 

problems because those of us around us have problems. 

But I would like to underscore that it is about politics and geopolitics here. This region is what I call the inner courtyard of Europe. We are surrounded in the Western Balkans by full EU, full 

NATO member states. And all of the governments for the past 15 

years, I take the fall of Milosevic as kind of the last hurdle, as the 

region moves forward, have determined to both join the EU and to 

join NATO except Serbia that still seeks a situation of neutrality. 

And the fact that there is this determination in spite of all is very 

important. And thus, I think, an invitation coming to Montenegro 

to join NATO, of course, if the marks are high in the boxes that 

it has to tick off, is most welcome because it demonstrates that the 

open-door policy of NATO is the reality. After 2009, so it is 6 years 

since the last enlargement round of NATO, and taking in Montenegro which would make the full northern coast of the Mediterranean, that is the only little part that remains not part of NATO 

would be symbolically and geopolitically very important. 

And so the EU is working very hard and I would like to underscore the role of Germany. Along with other EU member states, it 

has taken a lead role. Chancellor Merkel has convened something 

called the Berlin Process. All the prime ministers of the region 

were convened to Berlin. They will meet again in Vienna in August 

and they were in Brussels just 10 days ago with the High Representative Mogherini to look at concrete infrastructure projects. 

Serbia and Kosovo are negotiating a highway that they will build 

together. A railroad is being built, a high-speed one between Belgrade and Budapest. So in spite of these difficulties and no one 

wants to underestimate them or neglect them, that is what life is 

about, to confront the challenges. I would say that there is leadership. 

And I would also like to underscore the importance of civil society and the strength that it has and it requires full support from 

donors like USA, from the Balkan Trust that is still active. And 

thus this combination of leadership with support from the United 

States and the European Union, I think, will help us achieve that 

Europe whole, free, and at peace that is, I think, a common goal 

to all of us. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Vejvoda follows:]

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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you. Joe, you are on. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOSEPH J. DIOGUARDI, 

PRESIDENT, ALBANIAN AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE (FORMER 

MEMBER OF CONGRESS) 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for this hearing. I know we have many problems to deal with, the United States 

of America, around the world. Your questions to the State Department were excellent. As an American, I am embarrassed with the 

lack of clarity and the lack of substance on the answers you got 

from the State Department and the USAID. 

Now you know me as an advocate for human rights, but you may 

have forgotten that I am the first certified public accountant ever 

elected to the U.S. Congress. So let me talk about the numbers, because the numbers you heard don’t add up. 

When you discover that the State Department thinks that our 

growth rate is less than 10 percent over a long period and as you 

rightly pointed out that is 1⁄2 percent growth annually. Think about 

now the Albanian people in Kosovo and Macedonia. They have the 

highest birthrate in Europe today. Now think about the fact that 

there is no visa liberalization, so there is no way for the youngest 

population in Europe to go West. They are forced to go to Turkey. 

But not where there is some real growth like in Germany. That has 

to be resolved, number one. 

And think about the fact that you have this continuing adversarial relationship between the Serbs and the Albanians, at least 

at the government level. You heard from the State Department 

that they see hope and integration and normalization. How can 

there be normalization when every opportunity Serbia gets it says 

they will never recognize the independence of Kosovo. How can you 

have European integration when 5 countries today out of the 28 

are not recognizing the independence of Kosovo? I don’t think they 

know who the Albanian people are. They are the most pro-American, most pro-democracy, and the most tolerant people in terms of 

inter-religious tolerance in perhaps, the world today. They share 

four religions. There are even synagogues. A recent one was built 

in Albania. So you have Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, 

Muslims, and Jews. They intermarry. This is not a reality for the 

rest of Europe. This is what we should be supporting. These are 

the people that on 9/11, from Kosovo and Macedonia, were crying, 

walking with candles in the street, while the Serbs, the Greeks, 

Montenegrins, and Macedonians, ethic Slavic Macedonians that is, 

were dancing for joy in the streets. I just want to remind you, Mr. 

Chairman, who our friends are in the Balkans. 

You are continuing in the path of great chairmen. We started the 

first hearing with Congressman Dante Fascell, a Democrat. Then 

Congressman Gilman. Then Congressmen Hyde and Lantos, and 

now you. And thank God we have this progression, and that America understands that their best friends in the Balkans are the Albanian people. 

Now why is this hearing so important? We want to see Southeast 

Europe integrated into Europe. But the answers you heard—and 

your questions were excellent but got very few answers—tell us 

that unless the United States remains not only present, but active 

48

in Southeast Europe, there will be no European integration. There 

will be something that will happen before that that could create violence again. And I hope not. Nobody wants to see that. The problem is that the Albanian people can only take so much. So let us 

focus on Kosovo and then a few comments on Macedonia. 

We had a Pristina-Belgrade agreement 2 years ago heralded by 

Catherine Ashton. It is now been almost 2 years. Very little of the 

15-point agreement has been implemented. And yet, you heard the 

State Department say that it is mostly done. It is not. In fact, Serbia has yet to dismantle the parallel structures in the north. Now 

I understand your philosophy and I love it, about ‘‘self-determination.’’ But there is a big difference in the self-determination that 

the Kosovars wanted and the Serbs want. Kosovars were under a 

genocidal maniac, Slobodan Milosevic. And a lot of that is continuing today. There is racism by the Slavic Macedonians and Slavic Serbs. There is actual racism against the Albanian people today. 

As you know, they are not Slavs. They should have never been put 

in a state called Yugoslavia. That was the biggest mistake that was 

made after World War I. 

So where are we going with this at this point? If the State Department thinks that things are in regular order, when Serbia is 

refusing to recognize Kosovo, refusing to take away the parallel 

structures and what not. The other problem the State Department 

has is that it has been much too involved in decisions that have 

been made within Kosovo. For instance, there was an election. 

There was an impasse. People did not want a return of the regime 

of Hashim Thaci. Many people feel he is corrupt and we can say 

the same thing about some politicians in Macedonia. But what happened was that our State Department—well, I hope not, but it is 

probable. But the problem is that we have a State Department now 

that forced the issue. There was a coalition, an opposition that was 

trying to regularize things in Kosovo and now we have a return of 

the political elite just switching chairs. Now Mr. Thaci is the deputy to Isa Mustafa who was rated yesterday with the population 

of Kosovo at 24 percent popularity, but our State Department engineered that back. 

Another thing——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. You have 60 seconds. We are way over already. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. Let us look at Mr. Dell. He forces the creation 

of a road that is supposed to cost $1 billion to connect Albania and 

Kosovo. It goes to $2 billion. We need jobs in Kosovo, not a road. 

That road could have been built by local contractors for half price. 

And where does he end up? In a senior position in Bechtel, the 

company he aided to get the job. I would say, Mr. Chairman, that 

we need the U.S. Inspector General for the State Department to 

look at that. 

Let me just conclude with Macedonia. And by the way, I want 

to be sure that all my written comments are on the record. And in 

the case of Kosovo, there is an article that was written by our Balkan affairs advisor, Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, ‘‘Confronting the 

Roots of Kosovo’s Downward Spiral.’’ And I would like to make sure 

that this article is put on the record. 

49

Mr. ROHRABACHER. It will be submitted and put into the record 

without objection. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. And on Macedonia, we have another article by 

Irwin Fouere and he was someone who was the former EU Special 

Representative in Macedonia from 2005 to 2011. I think he knows 

what he is talking about. And that article is entitled, ‘‘Gruevski 

Must Resign and Make Way for a Transition Process in Macedonia.’’ That article was dated March 23, 2015, so that it is recent, 

as is the alleged corruption he talks about in that article——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. The article will be put into the record at this 

point without objection. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. And let me conclude just on the two points, 

Kosovo and Macedonia. It is in my written comments here, but I 

would like to make just one concluding comment here on both. 

Regarding Kosovo, if the EU is serious about integration, there 

must be a much more aggressive approach taken for the recognition of Kosovo by all EU countries including Serbia. 

Regarding Macedonia, Albanians need to be treated as an equal 

partner in a state that does not have an ethnic majority, no majority. You have Bulgarians. You have Slavs. And you have the Albanians. But in that state, when it was formed, the constitution in 

1992 was formed as a Macedonian state and that still rankles the 

Albanians today because they are not treated as equal and that is 

a big problem. The only other option, Mr. Chairman, is federalization. It was talked about back in the early ’90s, but that is what 

Albanians would need if they didn’t get a constitution that treated 

them as an equal state-forming group. They want federalization 

that will allow them administrative, social, and financial control 

over their own destiny as part of a Macedonian federation of ethnic 

Albanians and Slav Macedonians. 

The problem we have got in Macedonia is so simple, it is black 

and white. Macedonia is an apartheid state in the middle of Europe. The Albanians do not live with the Slavs. They live separately, but unequally, and this is the problem today. And now you 

have Mr. Gruevski being exposed by his own opposition Slavic leader as one of the most corrupt leaders in Europe and the poor Albanian people are sitting there trying to figure out where we fit in 

all of this. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Joe, thank you for your time. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. Thank you so much for this opportunity. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. DioGuardi follows:]

50


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53

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I will proceed with some questions and then 

Mr. Meeks will follow and the second swing, we will do that as 

well. 

Let me ask our friend from the German Marshal Fund, has the 

debt like for these Balkan countries in the last—we have 20 years. 

Okay, we have got 20 years since the Dayton Accords. We know 

that they are—and I know you believe that this is just a global 

trend in terms of an economy that was not producing a great deal 

of growth. We noticed that there was a World Bank loan of $150 

million. How much debt are these countries in now? And what does 

that mean in terms of their economic viability and in terms of 

being able to function while paying the interest on the debt? 

Mr. VEJVODA. Well, again, nothing special about the Balkans. 

Like most of the countries in the world, they have a varying level 

of debt. In Serbia, I know it is 75 percent of GDP to the debt which 

is around $25 billion, I think. Other countries also, Croatia, Slovenia, I mean EU member states also, not only Bosnia and Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, and Montenegro. 

The IMF has just concluded an agreement with Serbia just I 

think a month ago to the level of $3 billion to support the reform 

process and also the structural reforms that are required. Basically, in the case of Serbia——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So we are asking for structural reform while 

burdening them with $2 billion of debt? 

Mr. VEJVODA. The structural reforms cannot happen without 

that support because structural reforms mean that you have to 

close down companies, so-called public enterprises that are working 

at a loss in Serbia. When you put them all together, there are 

roughly 300 companies or more that make a loss of $1 billion a 

year. So what the IMF and the World Bank are saying, you need 

to close this down, but of course, there are human stories behind 

that because that means laying off thousands of people who, in an 

economy without growth, you know, the state will have that burden 

to carry it and thus the support from the outside——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Are we bailing out owners of these companies? 

Mr. VEJVODA. No. These are all state-owned companies. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I know. So it is just a state-owned company 

and there is no business class of people who are receiving the loan? 

Mr. VEJVODA. No. These are loans that—of course, there is the 

privatization in place, not dissimilar to what is being asked of 

Greece or Ukraine at this moment. Of course, Greece should have 

done this a long time ago. It has been a member state of the EU 

for more than 40 years and a member of NATO for more than 60 

years. So I think again, in comparison, things are moving. Yes, at 

a slow pace. And as a citizen of that region, I am also frustrated 

by it, but as an analyst, as a political scientist in my previous life, 

I think it is moving. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. We have Greece as a next door neighbor, as 

an example, and they are a member of EU and NATO. And then 

we have all of these other Balkan countries who have been waiting 

20 years thinking that NATO and EU would be their economic, 

give them economic deliverance. By the way, when you say this $2 

54

billion loan, who is that repaid to? Who actually gets the money at 

the end? 

Mr. VEJVODA. It has to be, just as Greece is repaying it to the IMF and the World Bank, Serbia will repay this IMF loan of $3 

billion to the IMF. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Is there actually any private banks that end 

up being paid for by this? Or is this all a government? 

Mr. VEJVODA. This is all in IMF loans. These are not private 

banks. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. This debt isn’t, we are not putting these people in debt to some big German bank some place? 

Mr. VEJVODA. No, this is not like the case of Greece. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. You know, I am not sure that people can borrow their way into prosperity. And I know that we are saying that 

getting these loans are predicated on the reforms necessary for 

closing up unprofitable operations, that it would be better to having the money spent on things that actually are self-sustaining. I 

understand that is a good point. But it does seem that all the time 

when people are talking about all the progress that has been made, 

all we hear about is Croatia and for the rest of these countries, we 

are talking about fairly large unemployment. Certainly, of course, 

right next door we have Greece that is a member of the EU and 

is a member of NATO and they seem to be having big problems as 

well. 

Are you—let me just get this, are you optimistic that these 

things are going to be overcome? We have had 20 years now and 

I am sorry, I don’t buy our own Government’s analysis of this is 

a progress line. I know that you wanted to suggest that you 

thought there was progress as well. 

Mr. VEJVODA. There is. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Outside of Croatia, is this figure correct that 

60 percent of youth, young people, are unemployed? 

Mr. VEJVODA. In Bosnia. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. In Bosnia. Sixty percent? Do you think that 

might lead to perhaps when we have ethnic differences and especially when you have people, for example, is there any evidence, for 

example, that you have that perhaps some of the unemployed 

youth of this region who are Muslims might be engaged in being 

recruited to participate in radical Islamic terrorism? 

Mr. VEJVODA. There are, but in comparison to countries like 

France or Belgium or Sweden, we have very low numbers in the 

region throughout. Maybe from each country, 20, 30 people have 

gone, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, a little more, Macedonia. There are 

now statistics. In fact, just yesterday, the European Union has decided to give $10 million euros to the region for greater interoperability between the civilian intelligence services so that they can do 

their job better, but I think they are doing very well. 

Let me just add, and this is something that we didn’t mention, 

there has been very intense cooperation between the United States, 

DEA, and our domestic civilian services on countering serious organized crime, especially cocaine trafficking from Latin America. A 

lot of these people are in jail and being tried. So I would like to 

underscore the interdependency, whether it is of the region with 

Europe or in this case of the United States with the region. There 

55

are FBI offices, I think, in all of these countries and there is very 

intense work together. So we are not an island separated from the 

rest of the world. So we share both the travails and the problems. 

And I would like simply to make a distinction, Mr. Chairman, if 

you will allow, between political progress and economic troubles 

that the rest of the world is seeing. I would say that there has been 

huge political progress. We were communist countries. There was 

no freedom of speech, no freedom of association, no human rights. 

We have made huge strides. You heard from Deputy Assistant Secretary Hoyt Yee that Albania was now given a clean bill of justice 

on their last elections. It was the last country that didn’t have elections that were considered free and fair. The rest of us in the region have that. We go home at 10 in the evening and we know that 

the votes are well counted. There is, of course, now this allegation 

of fraud in the case of Macedonia that is being investigated. You 

heard about that. But I think that citizens now do have the possibility of——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So you don’t really take these charges of corruption and ballot stuffing and——

Mr. VEJVODA. That is what is being investigated, these wire taps 

and we will see what the prosecution in Macedonia comes up with 

up. They are very serious allegations. I do not——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So if we are only going to focus on the political progress, because the economic progress has been so low, we 

end up having to close our eyes to the other things? 

Mr. VEJVODA. No, not at all, not closing our eyes at all. I think, 

again, the journalists, the citizens, there are strikes in our countries. People stand up for themselves and when they see unemployment or difficulties in government in going about the reforms, people are very supportive of these reforms. In fact, they are more supportive of reforms than joining the EU or NATO because they know 

it is about us. 

So when we talk about the EU and NATO, what has been very 

clear and we talk about 15 years again in countries like Serbia because it is the fall of Milosevic that really marks the turning point 

for the region, when that authoritarian ruler was beat by us citizens at the polling station in a free election which we defended in 

the street, half a million of us went down into the street on October 

5, 2000 to defend our freedom. 

The case is that people know that freedom is valuable and they 

defend it, but we again are not an island in the Pacific that lives 

off coconuts. We are dependent on the world markets. For example, 

in Serbia we have a huge car plant that is owned by Chrysler-Fiat 

that has been doing well, but not everyone has the fortune to work 

in that car factory. So it is about foreign-direct investments. There 

is no economic domestic capacity in any of our countries. They are 

not billionaires. They are not Bill Gates or Warren Buffets who can 

invest. We need to await support either from international financial institutions and I would add the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would have to suggest that if the economic 

situation does not improve and it continues to be more like Greece 

than like other countries in the world, I predict that the democratic 

institutions you are talking about will come under even greater 

56

pressure and we have to understand that if young people can’t find 

jobs, do end up getting recruited, and if they see that their own 

Government has certain levels of corruptions, it tends to destabilize 

the whole country. 

Mr. VEJVODA. Mr. Chairman, if I could just add one sentence. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes, sir. 

Mr. VEJVODA. To put it all to bluntly, we have done war and we 

have been there in the ’90s. And we have learned what the cost of 

conflict is. And that is why progress is a fact in this region. Nobody 

wants to go back there, not the Bosnians, not the Albanians, not 

the Serbs, because it has been a huge cost to their lives. We have 

lost 10 years. I had to change my career. I suffered also with my 

family and others as has everyone in the region and that is why 

we want to join the European Union and most countries want to 

join NATO. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I think you are right and——

Mr. VEJVODA. And so in spite of the resilience, the resilience is 

important to understand why we want, but of course, there will be 

examples of young going to fight for the Islamic states. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Only if they are chronically unemployed and 

they have no hope in their life. I would certainly agree with your 

assessment that when people have been through the kind of war, 

and we have a situation now maybe I should ask you about it. 

There is a group, there were actually three brothers that were 

murdered by the Serbians and we were told that there would be 

some kind of action taken to bring justice to that case. Is there justice being brought to that case, for example? 

Mr. VEJVODA. Yes, this is a well-known case. The Bitici brothers 

and their brother who fortunately is alive met the Serbian prime 

minister who promised him a face-to-face, that this would be dealt 

with. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Has that been dealt with? 

Mr. VEJVODA. It has not yet been dealt with, but the prosecution 

is working full steam on this. I think the Serbian prime minister 

will be visiting Washington soon at the invitation of Vice President 

Biden. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. The prosecutor is working full steam and 

how long has it been? 

Mr. VEJVODA. It has been long. It has been long. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. If that is full steam, I wonder what slow 

pace, if that is full steam. They are not working full steam on it. 

And there is a lot of things that need to be done full steam and 

they are not doing it. 

Mr. VEJVODA. And unfortunately, it is not only the case with 

this, but there are journalists who were assassinated under 

Milosevic’s time whose cases are not closed yet also. So it is not 

only——

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Right. Well, let me put it this way. I think 

that we have to—we are marking the 20th anniversary. I think if 

progress continues at the rate that it has been within the next 20 

years, you are going to see a disintegration rather than anywhere—

anybody could be optimistic about it. Because the political reform—

it is not reform, it is political realization of people don’t want to kill 

57

each other. That will dissipate with time if you have people who 

are living hopeless lives in these various countries. 

And I do not—look, if the EU will loan them, I guess it is not the EU loaning $2 billion, but sitting right next to the EU and the 

EU has all of these hoops that these countries have got to jump 

through before they can benefit like the rest of the Europeans and 

they have been waiting for 20 years and they are still not in the 

EU. I mean Croatia is the one country that has made it. None of 

this gives me reason for optimism or especially to use the word 

progress. 

Mr. Meeks, you may go right ahead. 

Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I think what we 

may have here is between the chairman and I a classic case of is 

the glass half full or is the glass half empty. And from what I hear 

from the chair he says it is half empty. I think I side that it is half 

full. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Is there vodka in the glass? 

Mr. MEEKS. Not for me. So for me, 20 years is not a long time. 

And 20 years where we are starting to see that integration is substantial. And I think of—I can’t help to come to these—my thinking 

and to my positions without also looking at a nation that has been 

here for over 238 years, the United States of America. And I don’t 

see how we can be critical of countries that are trying to get together and work and have the integration in 20 years when we 

really haven’t—still, we are striving to be a more perfect union. 

I mean I couldn’t help but think about what has taken place just 

a few short miles from here today, yesterday, in Baltimore where 

you have got a group of young men, unemployed, no sense of hope, 

none of those things exist. This is in the United States of America. 

When I think about the number of individuals who are being recruited from al Qaeda or for ISIS or whatever, right here from the 

United States of America. So I don’t see how I can be so critical 

of others who are trying to strive and prove themselves just 20 

short years when the United States has been trying to do it for 

over 238 years. It is a fact that the globe is now much smaller than 

it has been. And we do need to figure out how we integrate it and 

work collectively together and that is why in my estimation it is 

important for us and the United States and for the EU to work 

with other nations who are also striving to be better. There are 

ethnic differences, so that is why I asked the question before about 

that, just as there are ethnic differences still in the United States 

of America. But the only way that we can work that out is to try 

to figure out how we can talk and work that out and do it collectively as a human community and as a world community. 

So I would like to think that the progress that I have seen over 

the last 20 years where we have come from the slaughtering of 

human beings on a massive level to where now we are really starting to talk about the corruption that may be there, fixing the economy, fixing this and fixing that, on figuring how we work together 

better as opposed to how we destroy one another, to me that is 

truly a glass that is half full. 

Now we have still got a long way to go. We have still got to make 

sure that we would like the full glass and that is what I think that 

I am hearing some. And Mr. Vejvoda, I am hearing you say that 

58

what we are striving to do is to get better. And the economy, Lord 

knows, we just came out of the greatest recession since the Great 

Depression here in the United States. And everybody in the EU 

economy has been suffering when I look at the unemployment rates 

as going up. 

So it is important to me that we have this hearing and we have 

this kind of dialogue on both ways though because by doing that 

then maybe we can realize and try to figure out how we can improve and have a better situation. 

Now I get concerned because all areas of the world are important 

and oftentimes when I travel some say well the United States 

being the world’s largest economy is focused here and not there. 

And that is why I think this hearing is important because the Balkans has to be still on the United States’ place as we tend to look 

at some other places whether it is dealing in Ukraine or dealing 

in Asia or dealing in some other part, we have to make sure the 

Balkans is still in our focus because it is such still a key part of 

the world. And until we can do that—so I get concerned, for example, in the U.S. budget as I look as we put a lot of dollars now toward the Ukraine situation. I look that the focus is less on what 

is taking place in the Balkans. And so I am wondering how we 

make up for the lower levels of funding that remain so that we can 

continue being a leading force in the region along with the EU and 

keeping hope up because with a slow accession gives me concern, 

keeping hope up from the countries that are trying to get in, of 

gaining access into NATO or the EU that it, in fact, can happen. 

And what do we need to do to make sure that that happens? 

So I will get off my bandwagon. The question, for example, I get 

concerned about whether or not the dates and framework is still 

salvageable. I get—the questions that I have, so I want to throw 

that out. The question that I have is that since 2013, what progress 

has been made since Serbia and Kosovo signed the Agreement of 

Principles and Governing, the normalization of relations, and do 

both sides remain fully committed to the process. And if not, who 

is not? What can we do to help so that they can be committed to 

the process? I want to look at it on a positive side so that we can 

figure out how we can work this thing to make it happen so that 

we can be—we still are striving, we are never going to be perfect, 

but continue to striving to be better and working to be better and 

having it more in an integrated and therefore co-dependent scenario. 

Mr. Vejvoda? 

Mr. VEJVODA. Thank you very much, Congressman Meeks, for 

those questions. First of all on Dayton, and the 20th anniversary, 

there is a very concrete now proposal that is a joint German-British proposal of Ministers Steinmeier and Hammond that came out 

in November about how to kick start, to put it very simply, Bosnia 

out of this stagnation, both politically and economically. They both 

visited the region recently. As a consequence, Bosnia, the Parliament, the new Parliament that was voted in recently and the 

new government signed on the dotted line that they would work 

within this proposal on how to find socioeconomic steps forward 

and also importantly, they were given the next step in EU integration which is called the Stabilization and Association Agreement 

59

that by the way Kosovo will be getting in a few months, if not 

weeks, if my dates are correct. That was announced by the EU Special Representation Samuel Zbogar just 2 or 3 days ago in Pristina. 

So I think again the EU, with all of its troubles and slowness, 

is a tanker that moves ahead and the enlargement progress writ 

large is moving in spite of what was mentioned about the fatigue. 

And obviously, European countries are also in a process of what is 

called renationalization because everybody has economic and social 

problems and thus, they don’t want to be seen as helping others 

or giving aid money when money is needed for employment. 

So again, being very cautiously optimistic on Bosnia, which has 

been the slowest to move, identifiably, of all the countries, I think 

when the new government that has been established and having 

signed this compact with the European Union, we have to see what 

happens in the coming months and then come back and assess 

that. 

On the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina and Serbia and 

Kosovo, I think as I said, it is a historical agreement. There is no 

easy way around this. Both countries know, both capitals, both 

prime ministers know that if they do not reach an agreement there 

is no help out there. There is no movement toward either the European Union or anywhere else. The EU made by its own recognition 

a mistake by taking in Cypress as a member state with an unresolved territorial issue. As you know, the north of the island still 

is under the control of Turkey. And it so happened people make 

mistakes and they said never again. So that means that both Belgrade and Pristina have to resolve this, sign on the dotted line in 

the end at the doorstep of Europe, in the door step, just after the 

door step and what is termed the process of normalization. This is 

going to last several years. Nobody is at the door step of Europe 

yet. I think the closest is Montenegro and after that Serbia. They 

both hope to finish the negotiations by 2019, 2020. And there is the 

ratification process. 

So I think that the fact that we didn’t have a government in 

Pristina for well close to a year hindered the advance. Again, as 

a citizen, I would like to see this move much more rapidly to see 

more movement in this direction. But again, because we are dealing with a conflict, a post-conflict situation, we have leaders who 

have now signed, Prime Ministers Dacic and Thachi now; today, 

Prime Ministers Mustafa and Vucic met in Brussels on February 

9th. They made an agreement on the judiciary. They will be meeting again. The teams are meeting all the time. They have, we have 

not Ambassadors, but representatives on both sides sitting in Belgrade from Kosovo and vice versa. Our foreign minister was in 

Pristina just a month ago for a meeting of foreign meetings. There 

is more than meets the eye. Let me put it that way. These things 

do not hit the news because they are not news, if it is not something dramatic. What I am saying is we are moving slowly up the 

hill. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I will give both of you a chance to give me 

a 2-minute closing statement. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. No questions. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. But only two. Two minutes, Joe. 

60

Mr. DIOGUARDI. Let me reflect on what you said and what Mr. 

Vejvoda said. You know, when you talk about the young people of 

Kosovo and Macedonia, you are talking about 60 percent unemployment. Think about that. When you are talking about the young 

people in the province that is in southern Serbia, annexed illegally 

in 1956 from Kosovo called Presheva, Presheva Valley, three towns, 

Presheva, Medvedja, and Bujanovac, the unemployment is 90 percent. 

Now how much longer can the Albanian people put up with this 

kind of isolation, no jobs, and with the highest birth rate in Europe. This is why the United States has to continue to be present 

aggressively in the Balkans to protect them. They have American 

values. They are the most multi-religious tolerant people in Europe. And I daresay, the way the Albanians in the 15th century 

prevented the Ottoman Turks, the barbaric Ottoman Turks, from 

taking over all of Europe, don’t forget they took over Albania, but 

the Albanians wore them down for 25 years. 

Remember what Mehmetd II said in 1453 when he took Constantinople and no one believed it could be done. He said, ‘‘Now we 

will make St. Peter’s Basilica a stable for our horses.’’ They were 

dead set on taking Italy and the rest of Europe. And, guess what 

ISIS said 3 weeks ago? ‘‘We are going to now make St. Peter’s Basilica a stable for our horses.’’ Five hundred years has passed and 

nothing has changed. 

The only people in Europe today that are going to keep ISIS out 

of Europe are the Albanian people and they are doing it right now. 

Because they are nominally the largest Muslim population, because 

they were forcibly converted by the Ottoman Turks over 425 years, 

but they are moderate, secular, American democratic type people 

and we need them on our side to insure that ISIS doesn’t get a 

foothold in Europe. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Joe. 

Mr. VEJVODA. Just very briefly, Chairman Rohrabacher, I am 

very happy to hear that you will be—you are planning to visit the 

region. I think that is the best way to beyond us who are testifying 

here today. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Meeks, we are planning to visit the region? 

Mr. MEEKS. Absolutely. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right. There you go. 

Mr. VEJVODA. I am glad we locked that in. So you will genuinely 

see for yourselves and obviously you will be meeting everyone from 

government and nongovernmental organizations to representatives 

of our minorities and our business people which is very important. 

I would just like to mention that in Belgrade in September there 

will be a meeting of business people with all the prime ministers 

of the region called Southeast European Compact that was supposed to be held in March, but was delayed. It is about the credibility of the West, may I put it, of both the European Union and 

the United States, to see to it that these countries are finally integrated. I think there is a way to move this forward more quickly. 

The countries have 90 percent of the obligations to reform themselves, to put their institutions to consolidate them, make them as 

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democratic as possible and for the citizens to be engaged and see 

to it that their elected officials are accountable and responsible. 

Finally, I think the whole region, all of these countries individually have decided and have joined the community of values that 

represents the transatlantic community and I think that is the 

basis of the fact that this—that one can be cautiously optimistic 

that we are moving in the right direction. 

Mr. DIOGUARDI. Mr. Chairman, can I just make one concluding 

comment? Mr. Vejvoda has to understand that Serbia works overtime to keep Kosovo out of the United Nations, although 106 countries have recognized it. And to keep them out of all European institutions. They want them completely isolated, so how can we say 

that we are happy with normalization and stabilization? 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I promised both of you the last minute and 

so we are going to give you an extra 30 seconds to answer that. 

Mr. VEJVODA. Actually, I would like to correct the Honorable DioGuardi. It is 110 countries that have recognized Kosovo, so it is 

going——

Mr. DIOGUARDI. But not Serbia or Russia or Greece. 

Mr. VEJVODA. There is an example called the two Germanies that 

the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina in 2007 and then 

under Ambassador Ischinger advocated. I think again, there is 

nothing simple in these processes. I think we are moving to a full 

normalization. I don’t need to tell you that domestic politics is the 

key one because politicians like to be elected and they choose their 

moments of advance or waiting for the right moment to do the difficult decisions. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would like to thank both of you and all of 

the witnesses today. I have some unconventional ideas of my own 

as people know, but I generally believe in self-determination and 

democratic government and respecting the rights of other people. 

And I find that there has been great double standards when people—our friends in Europe, I think World War II created a basic 

yearning for stability and that yearning for stability sometimes creates pressures that actually lead to problems, more problems than 

if people were a little bit freer and at least I would suggest less 

structured. And within the EU, I don’t see the EU structure and 

NATO as being the wherewithal, but these other nations have been 

told it is. I mean, we will see. 

I frankly see the EU as also having a lot of problems with economic elites that manipulate the rules of the game for their own 

benefit, sometimes, and other times for the benefit of their country. 

But whatever it is, we need to make sure that there are evil forces 

in the world beyond what we are talking about and there are evil 

forces. We do have an upsurge in radical Islam that could be to our 

civilization what the expansion of a fanatic Islam was a thousand 

years ago. And that would be a new threat to both western civilization. 

I will have to say that if el-Sisi, for example, falls in Egypt, my 

guess is that Qatar, Kuwait, all of those countries will fall and you 

will a radical Islamic penetration into Central Asia and then with 

North Africa. That is what we are talking about, a great, historical 

change in the reality that we face today. And I think how are we 

going to thwart that? One way is to make sure that those Muslims 

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who are in Europe, the Albanian people in particular, are treated 

fairly and their children don’t find a hopelessness when they look 

to the future. And Joe’s statistics of 60 percent unemployment in 

some of these areas and 90 percent in some areas, that will lead 

to problems, major problems and it has been 20 years. We cannot 

mark another 20 years and with that said I am very grateful to 

you, Joe, thank you, and thank to all of our witnesses. I think this 

hearing has been worthwhile——

Mr. VEJVODA. Yes. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER [continuing]. In starting a discussion and we 

will finish that discussion and I will find out personally whether 

or not that glass in Belgrade is half full or half empty. And if it 

is half full, I will test it. Thank you all very much. This hearing 

is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:41 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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