strengthening its statehood remains a difficult challenge 16 years after gaining independence

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. It was a day filled with joy and hope for the country that he suffered atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, genocide and rape, committed by Serb forces through the Kosovo War (1998–1999).

The country is now recognized internationally by over 100 countries and has turn out to be a member of some international organizations. Kosovo has also gained the fame of being probably the most functional and vibrant democracies within the Balkans.

However, neighboring Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s independence, a fact largely recognized by ethnic Serbs living within the north of the country rejected state authority of Kosovo. Thus, in 2011, the EU and the US gathered each countries for talks on the normalization of relations.

The talks initially resulted in agreements that were considered “historic”. The Brussels Agreement for instance, in 2013 it set the conditions for large-scale decentralization of northern Kosovo and opened the approach to EU membership.

However, since then, ambiguous language and a lack of goodwill between Serbia and Kosovo have prevented these plans from achieving significant change.

The hospitality of Serbia

Serbia is using the break in cooperation to undermine Kosovo’s position as a sovereign state. Serbia has strengthened its parallel structures (a set of institutions in Kosovo led by Belgrade), that are positioned within the Serb-dominated north of the country, lobbied against Kosovo’s try and join UNESCO AND Interpoland arranged the aggression removal from diagnosis campaign against Kosovo.

Instead of normalizing Pristina-Belgrade relations, some say the talks have turn out to be a tool for the EU and the US to normalize relations with Serbian President Alexander Vučić.

Concerned about Serbia’s potential to destabilize the Balkans, Brussels and Washington agreed gentle attitude towards Vucic, with the aim of taking Serbia away from Russian influence. Russia’s war in Ukraine and its potential consequences for security within the Balkans (within the case of Serbia Moscow’s plenipotentiary) has strengthened this approach against all reasonable expectations.

For example, attempts by the Kosovo government to expand state control over ethnically Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo have resulted in criticized by the EU and the USA. On February 1, Kosovo’s central bank restricted all money transactions across the country to the euro, effectively banning the exchange of the Serbian dinar.

However, the attitude of the EU and the US emboldened Vucic intensify your efforts weaken Kosovo. He used Kosovo Serbs living within the north to stoke tensions and make the country ungovernable.

As of June 2023, there have been three Kosovo cops arrested by Serbian forces, who accused them of illegally crossing the border. And tensions rose in September when the group heavily armed men staged an attack in northern Kosovo, forsaking one Kosovar police officer and three gunmen dead. This is what Kosovo Serb politician Milan Radoicic did taken over be the mastermind of the attack.

The international community condemned the attack and called for further investigations to bring those responsible to justice. However, there has still been no official, public assessment of the attack and no sanctions have been imposed on Serbia. Meanwhile, the EU imposed sanctions on Kosovoaccusing the federal government of failing to take motion to alleviate the crisis within the north.

Other priorities

This unbalanced approach to the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is predicted to proceed in 2024. This is the case growing frustration with Vučić’s autocratic rule in Serbia, but in keeping with Brussels and Washington, there isn’t any higher alternative than talking to Belgrade. Vučić is seen as having sufficient social legitimacy to sell the ultimate Kosovo agreement to the Serbs.

Kosovo’s concerns concerning the current approach to dialogue between the 2 countries are justified given Serbia’s past actions. But there is just not much room to maneuver.

The stream of nations recognizing Kosovo’s independence has stalled. In fact, Israel is the one country to have established such a state diplomatic relations with Kosovo during the last six years.

Stopping Serbia from moving further towards autocracy can be the most effective solution to achieving peace, stability and countering Russian influence within the Balkans. However, this might require time and a complete revision of the present dialogue format.

Uphill fight

With the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas draining resources and causing political tensions, Brussels and Washington will seek to extinguish any potential flames within the Balkans. The current US and EU administrations are more likely to pressure Kosovo to provide in to their demands and provides Vucic something he desires to live with.

Pristina has already done this Agreement to some type of self-government for Kosovo Serbs. And within the face of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and the United States this yr, where there are anti-system parties on target to big profitscurrent leaders may rush to achieve an imperfect agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

There can also be a likelihood that the EU and the United States will likely be drawn into crisis management elsewhere if the war in Ukraine and the Middle East continues to have effects far beyond their borders. Kosovo may find itself caught between meeting the international community’s demands for greater sovereignty for Kosovo Serbs and potentially being abandoned by its Western partners if it doesn’t meet their demands.

Whichever path Kosovo chooses, consolidating its statehood will remain an uphill battle.