Slovakia closes its liaison office in Kosovo on December 31st

The Slovakia government will close the Interconnecting Office in Pristina in a step that repels Kosovo's recognition efforts.

The closure of the Liaison Office has been confirmed to Radio Kosovo by the Republic of Slovakia's Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs.

According to the Slovak Government's decision, the Interconnecting Office of the Republic of Slovakia in Pristina will be closed by December 31st, 2024, due to the reshuffle of the diplomatic network and budget reduction”, the Slovak MPJ Communication Department says in an answer.

The decision to close the Office in Pristina was made last month after Prime Minister Robert Fico's left-nationalist cabinet is pushing ahead of an agenda reforming Slovak institutions and foreign policy.

The Kosovo Foreign Ministry has not commented on the closure of the office in Pristina, nor on the impact this decision may have on reports between the two countries.

Gezim Visoka, professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Dublin City University in Ireland, says closing the office is not a good sign for Kosovo's Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

“The closure of the Slovak Office in Pristina would not have to present disturbing news”, Visoka, Radio Kosovo .” But the fact that Slovakia has not recognised Kosovo and has a similar foreign policy with Serbia about Kosovo, the region, and the war in Ukraine, closing the office is a bad signal”.

Visoka has said that closing the office at this time could be read as unwilling to recognise Kosovo. “This at least shows unwillingness to build pragmatic diplomatic relations, as Greece has done in the last decade”, he has said.

Slovakia's Foreign Minister, Juraj Blnar, at a meeting Friday with Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric, in Belgrade said Slovakia's stance on non-recognition of Kosovo remains unchanged because Kosovo independence violates Serbia's territorial integrity.

In the practice of international relations, liaison offices, reflect state diplomatic relations, because they signal inequality in bilateral reports, are features of pre-diplomatic practices and are usually placed in regions rather than capitals and there are two degrees below the level of embassy and special diplomatic missions.

In 1999 when Kosovo came under UN administration, many states, including those opposed by Russia, established their liaison offices in Pristina, and after independence most of those who recognised Kosovo were turned into embassies or diplomatic missions.