Lifting EU sanctions: Pristina’s aspirations and Brussels’ reality

For Pristina, the sanctions imposed in June 2023 are perceived as a major injustice—hence the daily calls for their swift removal. According to “diplomatic sources from Brussels,” the EU has already begun working on their gradual suspension. However, observers speaking to Kosovo Online note that most of these sanctions were never truly enforced. Following a series of unilateral actions by the Kosovo government in the north, the core question remains: have the reasons for imposing the measures been addressed?

Written by: Djordje Barovic

“There is a total EU blockade against Kosovo. Our reforms are not recognized, our efforts are not valued,” Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani stated during the European Political Community Summit in Tirana.

She stressed that the continuation of the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade is only possible once the EU lifts the punitive measures against Kosovo.

“As far as the dialogue with Serbia is concerned, we must first wait for the sanctions against Kosovo to be lifted,” Osmani said unequivocally—echoing the rhetoric of all Pristina officials.

According to Koha, the EU may indeed meet this demand, with procedures for the phased removal of the sanctions reportedly already underway. However, France, Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia are said to be hesitant to support the decision.

Still, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Kosovo, Riho Terras, though he considers the sanctions “unfair and unbalanced,” added:

“The measures require a unanimous decision by the Council, and I don’t see anything like that on the horizon—there’s no good news,” Terras stated.

The EU imposed the sanctions in June 2023 following a series of unilateral actions by the Kosovo government in the north.

At the time, a report from the office of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell recommended halting significant EU funding, including projects from the Western Balkans Investment Framework, suspending bilateral visits, and reducing participation in public events involving members of Kosovo’s government.

The justification then was that the Government of Kosovo, under Prime Minister Albin Kurti, had shown “no political will to undertake the necessary steps toward de-escalating the situation in northern Kosovo.”
A year later, Borrell drafted a new report recommending that member states take a position on lifting the measures, but no decision followed.

Symbolic Measures

Aleksandra Joksimovic, Director of the Center for Foreign Policy and former Serbian Ambassador to the UK, believes that any lifting of the measures will likely come only after Kosovo overcomes its current political instability. She notes that the sanctions themselves have been largely symbolic and inconsistently applied.

“As far as I know, there aren’t many sanctions. Some of them weren’t enforced anyway, so we’re really talking about symbolic gestures. In that context, it’s hard to assess whether there’s space for a step-by-step approach, given the limited number of measures officially in place, some of which haven’t been applied in practice,” Joksimovic told Kosovo Online.

She sees the institutional crisis as the core problem and deems it unrealistic to expect any progress before the formation of a new parliament and government.

“This uncertainty and political instability has persisted for some time, and I believe political actors globally will wait for this crisis in Pristina to resolve before entering into any serious talks on any matter—particularly concerning Kosovo and especially the dialogue with Belgrade,” she added.

Playing Hide and Seek

Political analyst Gezim Kasapolli, based in Pristina, offers a similar perspective—though he frames the situation using the metaphor of a game of “hide and seek.”

“We gave the EU a reason to continue these measures. For two years we haven’t moved from our position, and the Serbian population hasn’t moved from theirs either. We’re in a kind of stalemate,” Kasapolli told Kosovo Online.

He is convinced that the EU will not lift the sanctions until key issues begin to be addressed—something he believes can only happen through new local elections and the formation of a new government.

“Until then, no country will request or insist on lifting the measures because neither our side nor the local Serbs have fulfilled any of the conditions set by the international community,” he said.
Kasapolli pointed out that it is always easier to impose sanctions than to remove them—and Kosovo’s problem is that the countries now demanding accountability were the ones that once supported its independence.

“It’s easy to impose measures, but difficult to withdraw them. Our issue isn’t with countries that didn’t recognize us—that’s not the problem. The real problem lies with countries that did support our independence, but still aren’t convinced that Kosovo is willing or able to meet the conditions they have set. I believe it will be difficult to convince these countries—especially now, with no functioning parliament or government, and while we’re playing ‘hide and seek’—to lift the sanctions,” Kasapolli emphasized.

He believes the sanctions will only be lifted after local elections, particularly in Serb-majority municipalities.

“We need to wait until we go through both parliamentary and local elections, until it’s clear that the Serb population is participating and that they will regain power in the municipalities where they are the majority,” he said.

This also implies, he added, that Serb representatives would need to return to the positions they previously held.

“What we’re seeing now is that the previous government refuses to yield. We currently have officials in those municipalities who don’t represent the majority population, and that’s a serious problem,” Kasapolli concluded.

EU's Indecision

Aleksandar Sljuka, from the NGO New Social Initiative in North Mitrovica, believes that the EU has no clear consensus on whether to lift the sanctions or to impose additional punitive measures due to Kosovo’s continued unilateral actions. He also stresses that the current set of sanctions has been inconsistently enforced—especially on the political front.

“It’s now more about internal EU consensus—how different countries view the dialogue and Kosovo’s approach to its international partners. Some are in favor of easing the sanctions, others support punishing Kosovo for its recent unilateral actions that contributed to escalating tensions on the ground,” Sljuka told Kosovo Online.

He noted that discussions about lifting sanctions have been ongoing for some time, both in Kosovo and within the EU, but divergent views persist among member states.

“Some countries oppose lifting the measures. There’s more of a consensus around a phased, gradual lifting—likely starting with financial and technical measures, followed by others,” he explained.

Sljuka sees selective enforcement as a much more significant problem.

“Since the introduction of the measures, their enforcement has been selective. They’ve never been fully applied. On the political side, the restriction on high-level meetings between EU officials and Kosovo was never fully respected. We’ve seen plenty of such meetings—some of which are still taking place. So one has to question how credible or effective these measures really are,” he said.

Sljuka recalled that Kosovo officials have repeatedly claimed they’ve fulfilled all the criteria necessary for the sanctions to be lifted.

However, he argues that in practice the opposite has occurred.

“We’ve seen numerous closures of Serbian institutions in Kosovo. Since 2023, there have been countless unilateral moves condemned by international actors. There’s been far more escalation than de-escalation on the part of Kosovo authorities,” Sljuka emphasized.

He also noted that none of the main conditions for lifting sanctions have been met.

“The primary conditions included initiating the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (CSM)—which hasn’t happened. The withdrawal of Kosovo Police special units from municipal buildings occurred only to a limited extent. But the escalation has continued. Perhaps not directly in front of municipal buildings, but in many other cases, special units have physically mistreated citizens and behaved unprofessionally. So even that cannot be considered a fully met criterion,” he explained.

Another condition was the organization of new elections in four northern municipalities. Sljuka reminded that President Vjosa Osmani claimed this had been fulfilled through the issuance of an “administrative instruction”—but it only led to a referendum boycotted by the Serbs.

“We never actually had new elections in the north. Albanian mayors still hold office. Initially, they refused to work from alternative locations. Even those who accepted later returned to municipal buildings. And they weren’t just making technical decisions—they were engaging in political ones. In reality, virtually none of the conditions have been met. We’ve seen much more escalation than de-escalation, and in my view, not enough has been done to justify lifting the measures,” Sljuka concluded.