New NATO Leadership Ties With Kosovo Over Years

To the Netherlands prime minister, Mark Rutte, authorities in Kosovo see a partner with whom they can negotiate a wide range of issues from the country's advancement on the path towards integration into the European Union to long-term security and stability.

At the helm of the Dutch government from 2010, Rutte is expected to be confirmed in the position of NATO Secretary General within days, the REL reports.

The last visit to Kosovo was held last July, when, together with Luxembourg's then counterpart, Xavier Bettel, called on Kosovo and Serbia to reduce tensions and return dialogue on normalising relations.

Tensions between the two countries were at the peak, as in the majority Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo, Albanian elected mayors took power.

“Call on both sides to participate in the European Union-led dialogue to reinforce the situation and eventually normalise relations”, Rutte wrote at the time on the X platform.

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani named the meeting with two European leaders as opportunities to discuss “efforts to strengthen co-operation, advance the road to the EU, and joint commitment to peace, security and long-term stability on the continent”.

The Netherlands was among the states that recognised Kosovo's independence within the first month of its proclamation, in 2008. At the time, the prime minister was Jan Peter Balkennde.

Rutte took over the prime minister's post over two years later in October 2010.

In December 2013, he received then Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, in his office, who expressed Holland's support for the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Kosovo and the EU.

This first contract agreement between the two sides was signed in 2015.

Rutte's government, for a certain period, was opposed to visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens, along with that of France.

Such an attitude prompted dozens of European Parliament deputies to write letters to Ruttes and France's president, Emmanuel Macro, in 2020 to seek the green light for Kosovo's free movement.

From that time on, the process passed in several phases, and visas were removed from January 1st this year.