EU policy towards Kosovo in <x0pilot”

Unlike the timing of their deployment, the Serb community has participated in this year's parliamentary and local elections in Kosovo, significantly changing the conditions they once justified.

“We believe that there is now no conditions that reason the measures against Kosovo. With the election held, Serbs have their own political representatives at the local and central level. This, in some form, marks the return of the Serb community's normal political life in Kosovo”, says Besar Groggi, from the Group for Jury and Political Studies, for the Expose programme. Radio Free Europe.

This group is one of 12 civil society organisations that called on the EU last week to remove measures against Kosovo, arguing that initial circumstances are no longer valid and that measures are undermining the European integration process.

Free Europe Radio asked the EU if their removal is being discussed, but received no answers.

The media quoted only confirmation of a spokeswoman that the EU has accepted the letter from civil society in Kosovo.

These measures, including freezing part of EU funds and suspending high-level meetings with Kosovo officials, were introduced in mid-2023, following the escalation of tensions in the Serb-run country's north and some government actions, which the EU described as uncoordinated and damaging to the Serb community.

Some signs of domestication, however, began to be seen late, including from separate meetings that European Commission President Ursula von Leyen held on 15 October in Pristina with President Vjosa Osmani and incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

In the communiqué he issued at X, von der Leeyen said only that it is important that Kosovo continue to build strong institutions, reduce tensions and finalise the steps needed to take advantage of the EU's Growth Plan.

In February of this year, Radio Free Europe reported that a City of Pristina heating project, “Trmokos”, for doubling heating capacities in the capital, was suspended, due to freezing a grant of over 17m euros from the European Union.

The areas that would benefit from this project include: New Pristina, Calabrin, Mattin 1 and C Street.

Eight months after that report, “Termokos” confirms the situation remains the same.

The project has not started with the implementation phase, because the grant from the European Union has been temporarily suspended, as a result of EU measures towards Kosovo. As a result, the project progress process remains pending until these measures are removed”, the company's response sent to Radio Free Europe.

Like this case, there are others. A report released in May by the Institute for Advanced GAP Studies in Pristina pointed out that EU punitive measures have cost Kosovo about 613.4m euros for suspended or delayed projects for an indefinite term. Of this amount, 7.1m euros have been completely lost, while the most affected sectors are: environment, energy, digitalisation and culture.

Toby Vogel, analyst from the Democratic Policy Council, headquartered in Brussels, says the European Union has been busy with major crisis in the world since Ukraine to the Middle East, and Kosovo's policy has left it in <x0-autopilot”.

I think this is one of those EU policy examples that simply function automatically. Currently, the EU has no clear guidance on the Kosovo or Serbia issue, which is linked to each other through dialogue. No one is either a national leader or an official or a commissioner wants to invest political capital in an issue that is viewed as relatively insignificant”, Vogel says of Expose.

For him, these measures have been unfair to Kosovo since the beginning, especially given that Serbia has not faced something similar, despite doubts about its involvement in the armed attack on Banjska in 2023.

Vogel does not rule out the possibility of the EU continuing to use measures as a means of pressure for other political issues in Kosovo as well.

But, despite that, they do not seem to have influenced the pro-Western orientation of Kosovo citizens. A poll conducted by the International Republican Institute in the May-July period this year revealed that 85 per cent of citizens surveyed in Kosovo support a pro--- The EU and pro-Western, compared to only 9 percent in Serbia.

Gergi says part of the responsibility for continuing EU measures is held by local institutions, which have been dysfunctional or in office for months.

We, as a civil society, can take the first step, we can do what is within our activity, but, of course, the main burden in this respect is being placed on state institutions. And if they are with limited mandates, it must have effect on foreign policy”, Gergi says.

After meeting with von der Leeyen in Pristina, President Osmani wrote on Facebook that she had also discussed the need to remove the measures against Kosovo, but did not reveal other details.

Vogel says an appropriate moment for removing EU measures could come if Kosovo forms a stable and legitimate government, and avoid actions the EU and its partners consider provocative or unilateral.

Kosovo, of course, is going through a difficult period in the internal aspect, due to the inability to form the government and all the related situation. I think, actually, staying in Brussels is waiting and seeing. There is a general sense that '%na needs a kind of solution for the political stalemate in Pristina before any important decision is made”, Vogel says.

But he also warns that the EU's lack of attention is dangerous, as it increases the possibility of instability and violence in the Western Balkans. Without a political focus of the EU, the region could face serious security challenges, according to him.

I think the EU has been fortunate that there has been no more violence, or more serious violence in Kosovo. Also, it has been fortunate that, until now, there have been no violent incidents in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has missions located in both countries. The letter has the means to respond to any security challenge, but politically lacks attention and willingness. This is a dangerous situation, because what is happening in the east of the EU, Ukraine, has chain influence also in the Western Balkans”, Vogel says.

Earlier this year, the European Parliament called for the removal of punitive measures against Kosovo. EU foreign ministers also suggested the gradual removal of the measures to the European Commission.

But, in an interview given to Radio Free Europe in April, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said not all EU states agree on lifting measures against Kosovo.

Such a decision requires consensus of the 27 member states, and among them are five countries that still do not recognise Kosovo's independence -- Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus.

However, even before the deployment of the measures, no real readiness has been noted to advance Kosovo in the European integration process.

It remains the only country in the Western Balkans without EU membership candidate status. The application to join the bloc has submitted it by the end of 2022, but, almost three years later, the request has not yet been considered.

Due to the delay in forming central institutions, Kosovo remains even outside the EU Growth Plan and cannot benefit from the money funds. This, because the international agreement enabling access to those vehicles must be approved beforehand by the Assembly.

Gergi stresses the importance of functionalisation of institutions as soon as possible so that they can launch a co-ordinated lobby campaign at European centres.

But the ball, even then, will remain on their side to decide whether to reward Kosovo for its efforts, or just keep it pending.