The increase in defense budgets in the Western Balkan countries is inevitable. This is because the war in Ukraine and geopolitical changes have brought a new reality to Europe, writes A2.
First Serbia and then other countries have made significant expenditures in the field of defense. Security experts see investments in the field of defense as a strategic necessity, given regional tensions and global instability.
Gurakuç Kuçi from the Octopus Institute tells Kosovapress that after the start of the war in Ukraine, the demand for rearmament is great from countries, but in the Balkan region, according to him, the reasons why countries arm themselves differ.
"The demands for rearmament of countries at the global level are extremely high. This has started especially since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The Western Balkans are also part of this, where they must follow in their footsteps and seek their own security. Some countries seek security, some seek aggression. We are not in equal numbers and equal demands. In this case, countries like Kosovo, Croatia, Albania, but also Montenegro, Macedonia, usually seek only the issue of defense. Whereas, countries like Serbia see armament as a deliberate tendency for their expansionist expansion for the realization of the Serbian world", says Kuçi.
Professor Mazllum Baraliu says that with geopolitical changes in the world, a new world order is developing and where the risks are evident: "We have a realignment of new powers, both economic and military. We have a new world order in development and in these geopolitical changes the risks are evident and legitimate, I would say strategically, rightly and wisely, any government that arms itself because it has no mechanism or security instrument, even NATO for its members is not a security mechanism, nor the European Union that has allocated means for armament this time, that has claimed to make its army, is not a security environment," he said.
Security expert Lutfi Bilalli says that the geopolitical and geostrategic changes taking place in the world have caused countries in the region to increase defense spending, entering an arms race.
"With the geopolitical and geostrategic changes in the world today, I can say in a tense situation not only in the region, currently we can say that we have divergences, which can cause cracks and may lead to eventual conflicts, but the world, the war in Ukraine, in the Middle East, I think that all of these have caused consequences for the countries of the region to hold arms race competitions. I think that the budgets of the six Western Balkan countries have an increase in the budgets of each country, I can say. Unfortunately, Serbia leads with the largest budget it has for the armed forces, other countries should also, especially Kosovo and Albania in this regard, have taken steps in raising these limits", Bilalli emphasized.
Kosovo's budget for the army in 2025 is estimated at 208 million euros. Serbia is the country in the region that has invested the most in the army, allocating 2.2 billion in the field of defense for 2025, compared to 1.5 billion in 2021. (A2 Televizion)
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