EU Enlargement Commissioner to Visit Kosovo Next Week

This has been disclosed by informal sources in European institutions for Radio Free EuropeThe visit is expected to be officially confirmed during the following days.

This will be Kos' first visit to Kosovo since he took office of the European Commission Enlargement Commissioner on December 1st, 2024.

Since receiving the mandate, she has visited all other states involved in the process of expanding the European Union, both in the Western Balkans and in the Eastern Partnership, some more than once.

During 2025, the lack of her visit to Kosovo has been reasoned by European officials with the lack of functional institutions in the country because of the political crisis that has accompanied Kosovo in recent months.

A visit by Kos to Pristina was scheduled for 12 March, but it was cancelled after former Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani decided on March 6th to distribute the Kosovo Assembly.

However, according to sources in Brussels, it is now estimated that the visit should be realised regardless of the political situation, as the situation in Kosovo is not expected to change substantially in a short period.

In late April, Kos declared at the European Parliament that he expects to visit Kosovo soon to discuss reforms related to the European Union's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

“We have removed the measures and we expect the Government to continue with the reforms needed to benefit from EU support. Soon I will stay in Pristina to advance this matter”, she had declared.

Kosovo on April 16th received 61.8m euros in pre-finance from the European Union under the Development Plan, after ratifying relevant agreements and handing over necessary documentation to the European Commission.

The EU package for the Western Balkans for the period 2024-2027 is worth 6 billion euros. According to budgetary divisions, Kosovo is worth about 882m euros, of them 253m euros in grants and 629m euros in loans.

During a session at the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee in April, Kos also spoke of five European Union member states that do not recognise Kosovo's independence.

Asked by the rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Riho Terras, regarding contacts with non-recognition states, she said developments in this direction are <x0 encouraging”, without providing more details.

Greece, Spain, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus continue not to recognise Kosovo's independence, declared in 2008, which is considered an obstacle to Kosovo's advancement on the path towards European integration. /Periscope