Donic: Kurti faces resistance in Kosovo and the West; he will have difficulty finding allies for the government

Analyst Petar Donic from the New Third Way believes that the policy of Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti is facing resistance both within Kosovo and in the West because, during his previous term, Kurti demonstrated that under his leadership, the normalization of relations with Serbia was progressing very slowly. Because of this, he will have difficulty finding allies to form a government for the third time.

Donic emphasizes that Kurti's popularity is declining on all fronts.

"This time, he received 41% of the votes, compared to 50% last time. The two main opposition parties, PDK and LDK, have already stated that they do not want to form a government with him. To begin with, it is entirely possible that the formation of Kosovo's government will be delayed, and there may even be new elections," Donic said.

He added that, in general, Kurti’s policies face both internal and external opposition.

"The reason is that during his previous term, the normalization of relations progressed very slowly, and both Europe and the US recognize this. The current US administration, under Trump, has Grenell, and there has been a certain shift in policy compared to traditional approaches. However, during the past two mandates, all special envoys have pushed for normalization, continued negotiations, and the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, from Escobar onwards. Europe has been slower to act and more bureaucratically institutional in its approach, but even it reacted in 2023 by withdrawing some financial support for development projects until Kosovo changed course and returned to the path of normalization and negotiations with official Belgrade," our interlocutor stated.

Donic stresses that despite these disagreements, Europe will continue to support Kosovo, though to a lesser extent, if the Kosovo side becomes an obstacle to normalization.

"If we were to return to Trump’s approach, which emphasizes economic and political regional integration, unilateral decisions like banning the Serbian dinar, restricting payment transactions, and boycotting Serbian goods would not be welcomed. Kurti faces the challenge of bringing together both traditional and internal allies. We will see how this unfolds, but the situation is certainly not the same as it was a few years ago," Donic concluded.