Report from Pristina, Kosovo: Ethnic Albanians are betting which country will first recognize their independence

After the fiesta of Sunday and Sunday evening, the situation is calm in Kosovo and the first day of independence is a „very normal day” on Monday, Krenar Gashi, editor for Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Pristina has told HotNews.ro. He said most people were „enjoying the first day of independence” and „trying to guess which country would be the first” to recognize the newly declared independence.

According to Gashi, „there was no media or people attention to the Security Council” meeting. „As far as the EU goes, people are not concerned, because the declaration of independence was coordinated with the EU”, he says.

He also said Albanians across Kosovo did not pay much attention to the opposition of some countries about their declaration of independence, because recognition „will come in time”. He also said „no one was suprised about protests in Belgrade, but said people noted that unfortunately these protests were produced by top-level statements including statements by Serb PM Vojislav Kostunica.

„One thing I was positively surprised about was that people expected clashes once independence was declared, but basically no incidents were reported. We had too much violence until now, people don’t want violence anymore”.