European Commission published its annual enlargement reports yesterday. We report the key findings of the Report on Kosovo in the area of democracy, rule of law and economic criteria:
The framework for elections is conducive to the organisation of democratic elections. Kosovo continued to consolidate its new electoral legal framework. On 21 April 2024, Kosovo held a mayoral recall vote that aimed to pave the way for new local elections in the north of Kosovo. Despite some challenges, the vote was generally well organised. However, it failed due to an extremely low voter turnout following the decision of political parties representing Kosovo Serbs in the north to withdraw from the process and call for a boycott. It is critical that inclusive local elections, in which Kosovo Serbs participate without preconditions, are held in all four municipalities in the north.
The Assembly faces a number of challenges in the exercise of its powers. The government still holds a solid majority in the Assembly, but disagreements and lack of cooperation within the majority and with opposition parties hindered the Assembly’s ability to adopt legislation, to appoint members of public bodies and to provide effective oversight. Srpska Lista members boycotted the Assembly’s work during the reporting period. Strengthening consensus-building, transparency and oversight could improve the Assembly’s performance and help bring about a more stable and efficient legislative process. The Assembly needs to improve its internal management, adopt work plans, and introduce an electronic voting and presence recording system.
The institutions in charge of the integration process are broadly in place. While Kosovo demonstrated strong commitment to its EU agenda, divisive domestic politics hampered implementation. The government should work to forge cross-party political support to pursue EU-related reforms more effectively. It should also include line ministries in decisions related to EU-related policies under their responsibility and increase interministerial coordination.
As regards governance, initiatives to change responsibilities of certain ministries were met with criticism over the lack of public consultations and disregard for potential risks associated with these reforms. Kosovo made tangible progress in improving gender equality at central and local level. Challenges in the relationship between municipalities and central institutions persisted.
Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Kosovo operate in a largely enabling environment. Civil society remained active and diverse, playing a meaningful role in designing, implementing and overseeing EU-related reforms. Kosovo has taken specific action to increase the transparency and accountability of public funding for CSOs, but challenges remain on the reporting and assessment of the effectiveness of allocated funds.
Kosovo has some level of preparation and made limited progress in implementing last year’s recommendations in the public administration reform. Kosovo advanced in reducing administrative burden by simplifying procedures through implementing the related programme for 2022-2027. However, the General Law on administrative procedure remains insufficiently implemented to ensure legal certainty. In general, the sector continues to face several challenges in ensuring a well-functioning civil service recruitment and remuneration system that can retain and attract qualified staff. Delayed reforms to restructure subordinated agencies perpetuate the inefficient organisation of administration, with blurred accountability lines.
Kosovo is at an early stage of preparation on the functioning of the judiciary and made limited progress. Kosovo achieved a higher clearance rate and managed to reduce the backlog in civil cases. Continuous improvements were made on the use of the Case Management Information System. The functioning of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) improved in terms of communication and transparency, while the Assembly finally elected all three lay members of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC). However, the delays and struggle to jointly design justice reforms in line with the March 2023 joint commitment statement indicates a recurring lack of willingness to strengthen the justice system. Consultations on these reforms and on amendments to the law on the KPC were rushed and did not ensure a meaningful review. Despite strong EU advice, the Venice Commission was not consulted by the government and Assembly on the final amendments to the law on the KPC and on the other key reforms. This negatively affected the quality of legislation and its alignment with European standards. Work continued on handling gender-based violence cases, but faster progress is needed.
Kosovo is between an early stage of preparation and having some level of preparation in fighting corruption, and made limited progress overall. Additional institutions adopted integrity plans. The Assembly adopted the Law on the special prosecution office (SPO) to strengthen the criminal justice response to high-level corruption cases. There was some progress in adjudicating corruption cases, which resulted in a greater number of final court decisions and convictions. Nevertheless, results are affected by a shortage of resources and capacity and by a lack of impartiality and accountability in the prosecution service and the judiciary. Stronger commitment to establish a solid track record in fighting high-level corruption remains necessary, including by strengthening the use of anti-corruption tools such as asset declarations and public institutions’ integrity plans.
In general, the legal framework guarantees the protection of fundamental rights and is in line with European standards. During the reporting period, Kosovo appointed a national coordinator and set up a central secretariat for combating gender-based violence. Some progress was made in implementing the Law on the rights of the child. The government adopted the Strategy for the protection and promotion of the rights of communities. Kosovo also finally implemented the judgment of the Constitutional Court on Dečani Monastery land ownership. Some progress was achieved on the verification process of diplomas from the university in North Mitrovica. However, legislation implementation needs further strengthening. Several government measures undermined the rights of non-majority communities. Adoption of the Civil Code remains pending.
Kosovo has some level of preparation and made limited progress in the freedom of expression. Some improvement was made on freedom of media, including access to public documents. However, this was coupled with developments perceived as attempts by the government to exercise control over the media. A new law on the media regulator was adopted. It contributes to enhancing media regulation, but the Assembly’s amendments failed to reflect most recommendations from the EU and other international partners. The functioning of the Independent Media Commission improved. The public broadcaster faced instability with a number of resignations among top management and board members. It needs to swiftly address concerns related to editorial accountability and independence. The media in Kosovo is pluralistic, but the sector still lacks transparency and financial sustainability. Data on the audiovisual market remains insufficient, including on media ownership and financing. Attacks against journalists are given due attention by the police and the judiciary, but some level of impunity remains, including because of the difficulty to investigate complex cases which occurred in the north. The environment in the north of Kosovo is restrictive and conducive to self-censorship for the public, the media and CSOs.
Kosovo is between an early stage of preparation and having some level of preparation in the fight against organised crime and made some progress. The cooperation with Europol advanced, with Kosovo participating in joint operations and a Kosovo liaison officer deployment in Europol. The amount of information exchanged via the Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA) significantly increased. The reorganisation of the police advanced and is pending final phases of the recruitment processes. As per recommendations, the Kosovo Police is directing its activities according to intelligence-led policing principles, and assigned officers implement the community policing approach. The police is conducting financial investigations more systematically. Some progress was achieved in the area of asset confiscation, while systemic improvement remains needed. The Ministry of Interior and its executive agencies adopted integrity plans. There was some progress in the fields of cybercrime, combating trafficking in human beings, and small arms and light weapons (SALW) control.
Kosovo has some level of preparation and made good progress in developing a functioning market economy. Robust, albeit slower economic growth and a strong revenue performance underpinned a further decline in the budget deficit in 2023. Nevertheless, fiscal challenges persist given the narrow tax base, weaknesses in public investment management, and poor financial oversight and accountability of publicly-owned enterprises (POEs). Despite some progress, the labour market outcomes remained weak. The banking sector continues to be well capitalised and stable. Some progress was made in improving the business environment and reducing informality.
Kosovo is at an early stage of preparation and made limited progress in terms of its capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces in the EU. The education system does not sufficiently provide the necessary skills and it is not adequately aligned with labour market needs. Some progress was made in promoting renewable energy sources and digitalising the economy. The latter remains highly reliant on small and micro firms, which cannot compete internationally. Trade openness increased significantly compared with 2019.