For those who follow politics in Kosovo, the latest developments seem like “déjà vu.” Until about a month ago, the country spent nearly a year with a caretaker government and without a functioning Assembly. Today, the highest legislative institution remains blocked again, awaiting a decision from the Constitutional Court.
The reasons may vary, but according to analyst Daniel Serwer, a crisis that lasts this long “is not normal” and undermines Kosovo’s position in the international arena. He warns that under such circumstances, the country risks directly losing the support of the United States.“I am talking about a real and sustainable relationship between Washington and Pristina, and that relationship cannot be built with a caretaker government and without a president. It simply doesn’t work that way,” says Serwer from Johns Hopkins University in an interview for the Expose program of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.Tensions peaked on March 6, when Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani, issued a decree to dissolve the Assembly—just one day after it failed to elect the country’s new president.“This is where irresponsible people with dangerous intentions have brought the country… At a time of great uncertainty in the region and the world, Kosovo cannot afford endless delays and contested legitimacy,” Osmani said at a press conference.She did not mention specific names, but her decree was challenged in the Constitutional Court of Kosovo by the party Vetëvendosje Movement, led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, arguing that it contradicts the Constitution.“I don’t believe we can talk about new elections without hearing the word of the Constitutional Court, since we have disagreements and a request before it,” Kurti told journalists.
The Constitutional Court imposed a temporary measure until March 31 on the decree to dissolve the Assembly. Until then, the institution cannot carry out any parliamentary activity—not even meet to elect a new president, even though President Osmani’s mandate ends on April 5.This entire situation also recalls 2025, when after the February elections the Assembly was barely constituted after dozens of attempts, while a government failed to form, sending the country back to elections once again.Serwer warns that this cycle of crises has already gone beyond the normal obstacles of a parliamentary system, making Kosovo appear incompetent in the eyes of its allies.“There is the problem with Gaza, the war in Iran, the war in Ukraine. Who will listen to a country that cannot find a president?” Serwer says.
Most likely not the European Union.
The EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, postponed her planned visit to Kosovo this week, linking the decision directly to the latest political developments.
In a statement to Radio Free Europe, an EU spokesperson said the bloc is ready to support Kosovo’s European agenda, but that this requires fully functional institutions.
Radio Free Europe also asked the embassies of the Quint countries the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy how they view Kosovo’s political crisis and whether it could affect their engagement.
A response came only from the German Embassy, which said that Germany “continues to be a strong friend and partner on Kosovo’s path toward Euro-Atlantic integration. To achieve progress on this path, we need fully consolidated and stable institutions.”
The British ambassador in Pristina, Jonathan Hargreaves, wrote on social media that Kosovo urgently needs to return to political stability and make progress on its domestic and international agendas, describing constructive dialogue as “vital” for finding a way forward.
Meanwhile, journalist Augustin Palokaj, an experienced observer of European politics, says this crisis is happening at a crucial moment when Kosovo had the chance to recover from the losses of recent years, caused by EU punitive measures and the lack of functioning institutions.
He warns that if the crisis continues and leads to another round of elections, the use of millions of euros from the EU’s Growth Plan and other international funds could be jeopardized.
“Everyone wants reliable partners in Kosovo—partners who will have full legitimacy when they speak, negotiate, and take obligations on behalf of Kosovo. Therefore, there cannot be relations with Kosovo if Kosovo does not have internal political stability and structures with full legitimacy,” Palokaj says for Expose.
Furthermore, he adds, the political crisis could also prevent Kosovo from being placed on the agenda for membership in the Council of Europe this year and makes the fate of its application for EU membership even more uncertain.
“It is the only country in Europe that has applied for EU membership, but the application has not been reviewed at all and there is not even a plan to review it. If Kosovo continues with such internal political crises and does not hurry itself, then why should the EU hurry? States that are already not interested in helping Kosovo will use this situation to keep the country marginalized in the future,” Palokaj says.
Just two weeks before issuing the decree to dissolve the Assembly, President Osmani participated in the first meeting of the Peace Board for Gaza as a founding member of an initiative launched by Donald Trump.
Serwer considers her decision to join the board a wise one. Even though he does not personally support it, he says that for Kosovo it is a way to position itself better in relation to Washington.
However, in Kosovo the signals have not been clear about whether participation in the Peace Board enjoys full political support, and it remains unclear how the country’s engagement will continue in the future.
Serwer says Kosovo must maintain the trust of the United States, which has already shown dissatisfaction with the political deadlock by suspending the Strategic Dialogue last year.
He argues that membership in NATO should be the country’s most urgent strategic objective because without the alliance’s support, Kosovo could defend itself only for a short time. He warns that a prolonged institutional crisis directly threatens this goal by preventing the building of a stable relationship with the United States, which is essential for a successful NATO application.
“You need to have a very good relationship with NATO, but also a very good relationship with the United States, because the U.S. will have to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to defending Kosovo from Serbia if the need ever arises. Therefore, I would maintain a very good relationship with the Americans,” Serwer says.
Serwer adds that resolving the crisis must come from Kosovo’s own leaders and that compromise is the most natural requirement of a parliamentary system.
Palokaj also stresses that overcoming the crisis requires compromises and concessions among the parties and that the solution should not be expected or imposed from outside.
“Partners want to see Kosovo capable of deciding for itself. There can be no return to the past when foreign ambassadors decided how to overcome political blockades and even expressed preferences for certain candidates,” Palokaj says.
In recent days, a statement by a deputy from the Vetëvendosje Movement attracted attention in the media. Through a social media post, he called on several ambassadors—without naming them—not to interfere in the work of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, which is reviewing the party’s complaint against President Osmani’s decree dissolving the Assembly.
The French ambassador to Kosovo, Olivier Guérot, who visited the Constitutional Court about a month ago, was asked by journalists about the statement but declined to comment.
Last year, during the institutional crisis in Kosovo, Prime Minister Kurti himself accused the Constitutional Court of bias and unfair decision-making. The former U.S. ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, said at the time that such criticism was among the main factors that led the United States to suspend the Strategic Dialogue with Kosovo.
In Serwer’s words, Kosovo once used to be “quite good” at organizing elections and alternating power—an important proof of its democracy. But today, according to him, the country “has lost some of the talent” to turn election results into a functional government.
As for the culprits?
“I don’t know—I’m not there when they talk among themselves,” Serwer concludes.
