The EU profits from the departure of youth from the Balkans and the sooner the competent institutions start discussing this reality the better the chances of dealing with this issue in a proper way, the co-founder and executive director of the “Populari” think tank” Alida Vracic told N1.

“Currently, the EU profits the most from the fact that the youth from the Balkans is leaving. These are doctors, educated labour force, engineers who are leaving. The key labour markets are those in Austria and Germany, and we are simply adjusting to these markets.” she said.

According to her, around 4,000 people notify the authorities of their departure from Bosnia every year, but the number of people leaving and not registering their departure is much higher.

“This is a topic which all politicians are afraid to talk about. No group recognises the need to even discuss this issue. We don't even have the exact numbers. The data on the number of people who left Bosnia vary from 50,000 to some 100,000,” Vracic pointed out.

She also adds that people are not just leaving out of poverty.

“Many of them are well off, but they’re leaving because they’re unable to change anything, because of the corruption, nationalism, chauvinism, etc.,” Vracic stressed, noting that the entire region is suffering from an identical problem which is not being dealt with.

However, the solution exists.

“The only solution is circular migration. We can’t take away someone’s right to leave because mobility is key in the EU, but we can create a system where they would go to get their specialisation, with a possibility to return back to the country,” Vrscic told N1. “If all our medical workers and good teachers leave, we’ll have a much bigger problem that affects the stability of the EU.”