Kos: Normalisation with Serbia, precondition for Kosovo's EU membership process

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has told REL that normalising Kosovo's relations with Serbia is a prerequisite for Kosovo to get candidate status and start the EU membership process.

Kosovo applied for EU membership on December 15th 2022, and now it remains the only country in the region that does not yet have candidate status.

“We are waiting for [the formation of] the new government. I am in contact with politicians there, and they claim they are very favourable to normalise relations with Serbia, what is the precondition for the negotiation process to begin or be granted candidate status”, Kos said, in an interview given to Radio Free Europe.

She said it is very important that Kosovo's future government meet some preconditions “that must meet”, not to mention what they are.

Kosovo is being led by a government in office because the new legislature has not yet been constitutionalised, not more than a month after the certificate of parliamentary election results that were held on February 9th.

The EU membership process takes time, as the candidate country must meet certain criteria, adapt its laws to those of the EU, as well as expect ratification of the treaty for membership in the parliaments of each EU member state.

Kosovo is still in the initial phase of membership, as it has not yet received candidate status. For this, the European Commission must first grant consent for membership application, and then the European Council must unanimously confirm its status as a candidate country.

I have received no signal from member states or from the [European Council's] Danish presidency that this [repartship of status during the Danish presidency] could happen. But I think it would be great to start”, she said.

Even earlier this month, the European bloc's foreign policy chief, Kaya Kallas, had said neither Kosovo nor Serbia can move forward on the road to the EU without normalising relations.

Under EU mediation, in 2023 Kosovo and Serbia reached agreement on the road to normalising relations. But since then, the bloc has criticised the two countries for failing to implement the agreement, despite its obligation.

Due to crises in Kosovo's north, which raised tensions between the two countries, no round of political dialogue has been held since September 2023 in Brussels, but only talks at the level of chief negotiators have been held.

These tensions in Kosovo's north had led the EU, in 1923, to impose some punitive measures on Kosovo and continues to keep them in force with the argument that Kosovo has not yet done enough for the extension of the situation in the predominantly Serb north.

Despite the demands of Kosovo leaders on removing these measures, Kos stressed that not all EU member states are currently ready for the removal of measures at this stage.

“We still don't know. We're discussing this. If member states are to remove them, of course we will. But, at the moment, not all member states are for the removal of” measures, she said. / REL/Periscopi/