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Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has demanded that the European Union address Kosovo's application for EU membership, saying that Kosovo does not have a "plan B", but is fully committed to integration into the European bloc.
"The time has come for Kosovo and the EU to intensify joint efforts to overcome the obstacles that hinder Kosovo's EU membership process," Kurti said, during a discussion in Brussels organized by the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS).
"This means: initiating the Kosovo Questionnaire, to assess our institutional and legal capacities for EU membership; and preparing a merit-based opinion on EU candidate status," he added.
Kosovo applied for EU membership on December 15, 2022, and now it remains the only country in the region that does not yet have candidate country status.
Just a few hours earlier on Monday, the European bloc's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, had said that neither Kosovo nor Serbia could move forward on the path to the EU without normalizing relations.
Asked about the stalled dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Kallas said "what we are doing this month is analyzing" together with the EU's envoy for the dialogue, Peter Sorensen, who took office in February.
Under EU mediation, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement in 2023 on a path toward normalizing relations. But since then, the bloc has criticized both countries for failing to implement the agreement, despite it being binding on them.
Due to the crises in northern Kosovo, which increased tensions between the two countries, no round of political dialogue has taken place in Brussels since September 2023, but there have only been talks at the level of chief negotiators.
Kosovo may take years to gain candidate status, as countries in the region have also waited similarly – Albania took five years, and Bosnia and Herzegovina six years. However, some countries, such as Ukraine and Moldova, waited only a few months to gain this status.
Kurti emphasized Kosovo's achievements in the field of reforms and implementation of EU standards, mentioning Kosovo's commitment to assist Ukraine with military assistance and being in line with the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
Kosovo has condemned Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine and supported international sanctions against Russia and its allies.
"Kosovo is a reliable partner of the EU and strongly believes in its European future," Kurti declared.
He stressed that it is time for the European Union to show that it sees Kosovo as part of its future, thus strengthening Kosovo's commitment to the European agenda.
Kurti also criticized the delays in the enlargement process and stressed that citizens of the region, especially young people, are concerned about the slowdown of this process, given that trust in the EU is waning.
Countries that joined the EU in 2004, 2007 and 2013 – the last three enlargements of the European bloc – took between eight and 14 years from submitting their applications to joining the EU.
This process takes time, as the candidate country must meet several criteria, adapt its laws to those of the EU, and await ratification of the accession treaty in the parliaments of each EU member state.
The criteria for application – known as the “Copenhagen Criteria” – relate to the stability of democracy, the rule of law and the functionality of the market economy.
Several additional conditions have been imposed on the Western Balkan countries, defined through the Stabilization and Association Process.
Croatia – the last country to join the EU, in 2013 – applied for membership less than a year and a half after the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. However, the entire process leading up to Croatia's accession took 12 years.
Kosovo's journey could be more complicated than Croatia's, as this will be the first time a country has applied for membership without being officially recognized by all EU member states. Countries that do not recognize Kosovo's independence include Spain, Romania, Cyprus, Greece and Slovakia.
Kosovo had reached the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, which was signed in Strasbourg on October 17, 2015./ REL
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