The novel "Enlargement" by the Austrian writer Robert Menasse, has been assessed as necessary for the meaning and way of decision-making in the European Union. The reading is organized by the EU Office in Kosovo in cooperation with the Embassy of Austria and the House of Europe in Pristina.

On Thursday, Menasse read parts of his novel at the National Library of Kosovo in Pristina.

Accredited ambassadors and representatives of the University of Pristina were part of this activity.

The Ambassador of Austria in Pristina, George Schnetzer, pointed out that the novel "Zgjerimi" has won several international awards. He said that this book is the first to deal with EU enlargement issues, but it also highlights the case of Albania on its way to European integration.

"As a novel, it is the continuation of the novel 'Capital', which was published in 2015, and according to experts, it is the first novel that deals with the EU and EU enlargement issues, but deals more specifically with the case of Albania. The author has done a lot of research both in Brussels and in Albania. It was published in 2022 and was announced as the winner of the European Book Award in Germany," he said.

The deputy head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Eva Palatova, said that this novel provides details on the way of decision-making in the European Union.

"In the EU institutions in Brussels, a lot of communication efforts are made to find out how the decision-making methods for the EU are comprehensible to the public since there are many languages ​​and many media. This is not easy. I have worked for 15 years in the EU and I can say that Mr. Menasse has managed to present the work of Brussels in his novel," she said.

Author Robert Menasse detailed the contents of his book. Reading some fragments of the novel, he said that he used a lot of symbols which, according to him, are a phenomenon of power. Also, he spoke about the EU's expansion plans and nationalism in the member countries for the expansion ideas.

"Symbols seem to be extremely important in politics, especially when politics is unable to solve problems. Then you have to replace the satisfaction of the voters and you do this through symbols. Now it has even become dangerous, especially for European politics, as an example can be given of how senseless this is. The elite of the EU, the bureaucrats, who from time to time can find the narrative of the EU, since there is no symbol that gives the citizens of the EU an identity and so on... Like everything in history there are dynamics that are in contrast to each other, there are countries where the majority of the population fears expansion and does not want expansion. For example, there are crazy ideas when, for example, they hear the word Albanian and associate it with mafia... Big expansion with Romania and Bulgaria - this expansion was done a little bit quickly and now with the experience and the problems at that time, so now it's going so well slowly", he emphasized.

The novel "Zgjerimi" was considered necessary for reading by those present.