EU changes leadership, Kosovo in a number of places

From July 1, Denmark took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, inheriting a number of important political files - among them one that has long been shelved: Kosovo's application for EU membership.

Submitted as early as December 2022, this application has not even passed the first formal phase - review by the EU Council and then sending it for opinion to the European Commission.

Under normal circumstances, this would be a more routine procedure. But in the case of Kosovo - which is still not recognized by five member states - everything is complicated by political calculations, diplomatic hesitations and a lack of will to treat this issue more seriously.

Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkans that does not have the status of a candidate country for EU membership - a fact that clearly reflects the stagnation of its European agenda.

The question now is whether the Danish presidency will deal with this dossier, or will it follow the path of its predecessors, leaving it on hold indefinitely.

She did not respond to this inquiry from Radio Free Europe, but experts in these processes do not expect any significant changes during her six-month term.

"At the moment, there is nothing concrete, no movement. The Danes really wanted to move things forward, but, unfortunately, they had no help from Kosovo," says Rikard Jozwiak, Europe editor at Radio Free Europe.

He explains that the main difficulty is not only related to the skepticism of some member states towards Kosovo, but also to the political situation in Pristina itself.

It is worth remembering that Kosovo has been functioning for months with institutions in place, or without a consolidated government that could seriously resume engagement with the EU.

Regarding the normalization of relations with Serbia, he says that Kosovo has not made any significant moves for almost two years now, remaining on the sidelines even in this process - vital for its European future.

"Therefore, it will be very difficult to convince countries skeptical of Kosovo, because it is, realistically, not one of those countries in the Balkans where there are positive developments," says Jozwiak.

Although elections were held in February, Kosovo continues to be without a constituted Assembly and, consequently, without a formed government, due to disagreements between the main parties.

Normalization of relations is a necessary condition for both Kosovo and Serbia to move forward on the path of European integration.

However, Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has refused to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić since the attack in Banjska in September 2023, first demanding the surrender of those accused of that event.

This approach has made dialogue difficult and has influenced a more critical stance of the EU towards Kosovo.

Kurt Bassuener, from the Council for Democratization Policy in Berlin, says that the EU's policy, focused mainly on Kosovo's dialogue with Serbia, is harmful to Kosovo, as, as he says, it has brought unilateral pressure on it and more lenient treatment for Serbia.

This, according to him, has created inequality in international relations and explains the reasons why:

"Kosovo's compatibility with EU foreign policy, even though it is not a candidate country, is much better than that of Serbia, which is a candidate. Kosovo's geopolitical orientation is undisputed across the divided party spectrum."

For Bassuener, it is essential to make it clear to Serbia that without recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, its path towards the EU will stall.

In this way, he says that the EU should exert equal pressure on Belgrade and lift the punitive measures against Pristina, imposed after the tensions in the north, in 2023.

Without these steps, the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia will not achieve sustainable progress, says Bassuener, emphasizing the importance of a fundamental change in the EU's policy towards the Western Balkans.

"Denmark could catalyze a broader coalition of member states to force a review of European policy towards the Western Balkans as a whole. This would benefit not only Kosovo, but also those who currently support a Serbia governed in accordance with the EU's fundamental values," says Bassuener.

The European Union last expanded with Croatia in 2013.

Jozwiak says that the bloc is currently focused on other, more priority issues, such as arming Ukraine, while limiting its enlargement policy to only those countries that have achieved visible progress, such as Albania and Montenegro.

"These two countries may progress further, but almost all the others, for various reasons, will remain where they are even during the Danish presidency," he says.

Jozwiak predicts that the priorities of the Danish presidency will be military support for Ukraine, as well as reaching a trade agreement with the US to avoid transatlantic economic tensions.

In addition, the negotiation process for the new long-term EU budget will also begin, he says.

Denmark took over the EU presidency from Poland, which held it for the first six months of this year.

Before her at the top were: Hungary, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Czech Republic...

As the chair in the second half of 2022, the Czech Republic accepted Kosovo's application for EU membership on December 15 of that year.

But no country after it examined it, nor did it advance it.

By regulation, the duty to consider a country's application for EU membership falls to the presidency of the Council of the EU, which rotates among member states every six months.

But, at this rate, it seems that Kosovo will continue to wait in the long queue of EU 'priority' issues - where other unfulfilled promises also await./ REL