Having been born and having lived in Albania most of my life, and having had the chance to visit the region often, I had been sure of one thing: the population of Southeastern Europe is livelier than ever. There was great hope in people my age: hope that they would become part of the European Union within the next five years, that once out of school they would go on to find good jobs and visit the world. Nine months since my last visit, the region seems to have changed.
Indeed, reality seems to have hit hard the fraction of the population that had always believed in the possibility of change. For sure, university students in Southeastern Europe have begun to realize that things are not going the way they had hoped. The region’s GDP growth rates are mediocre at best (not higher than 6.3%, even in Kosovo, where international aid is flowing) and unemployment is high (as high as 30.9% in Macedonia and never lower than 13% in the region). Of course, these numbers are even worse when it comes to youth unemployment, which reaches 50%-60% in some countries.
There is reason for the feeling of stagnation and hopelessness that seems to have captured the youngest in every country from Croatia to Macedonia. Those who had the chance to leave have already done so, and not many have the desire to go back. And those who have remained have had to contemplate the real possibility of still living dependent upon their parents after graduation from university. And even those hoping to study abroad, join a political party, and help their respective countries move forward seem to have given up those dreams.
Instead of more actively pressing for change, Southeastern Europeans often voice their discontentment in the region’s coffee shops and bars, nearly always full regardless of the time. Some do try to join youth forums with connections to the political parties in power, but to little avail.
Many economists would argue that most of the countries that compromise Southeastern Europe have all the necessary elements to proposer: good geographical position, plenty of natural resources, international aid, and historical mistakes to learn from. But the population and institutions of the region seem to have fallen into a state of depressive contentment, where politicians lie and the people wait for them to fail in order that someone or something else might offer them a different future. There is anger and disappointment, yet little desire to do anything about it. The Middle East had its revolution, but are the Southeastern Balkans states waiting for self-destruction before starting their own?
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