Spies, tensions and parliamentary paralysis in Kosovo

Kosovo lawmakers debate passing constitutional amendments, in Pristina, on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Grinding political gridlock has seized the small Balkan nation of Kosovo since indecisive elections in February and multiple attempts to form a government have failed, leaving the former prime minister Albin Kurti in a caretaker role for months.

But the parliamentary stasis has not stopped Kurti from continuing a campaign to counter Serbian influence in Kosovo -- reforms labelled “provocative and damaging” by the European Union and criticized by the United States.

Neighbouring Serbia, which has never formally recognized Kosovo’s independence, looms large over the country’s north, a region that remains fractious more than two decades after the last of the 1990s conflicts that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

Here are five key things to know about the unfolding crisis in Europe’s youngest country.

Political deadlock

Kurti’s Vetevendosje party topped the polls but lacks a governing majority.

Deeply divided MPs took months to elect a parliamentary speaker, and now efforts to select a representative from the Serb minority as deputy have stalled the formation of a new government again.

Albanian majority MPs rejected the candidate from Kosovo’s main Serb party, Lista Srpska, prompting an appeal to the constitutional court that has frozen further parliamentary decisions until September 30.

Kurti remains the de facto leader in the meantime.

Parallel system

Despite the stalemate, Kurti has continued to dismantle parallel services offered to Kosovo’s Serbs by Belgrade.

At the end of the 1998-1999 war between the Serbian army and independence-seeking ethnic Albanians, Serbia was forced to withdraw from Kosovo under heavy NATO bombardment.

Belgrade left behind para-state structures in Serb-majority municipalities, providing services such as banking and social welfare. It remains a powerful tool to guarantee loyalty from Serb-majority areas, driving a wedge between them and the Kosovo state.

Kurti has moved to shut down or bring the system under the control of his government, particularly targeting Serb-majority strongholds in northern Kosovo.

Ignoring Western objections, he has managed to dismantle most services, leaving just education and healthcare intact.

Allies turned critics

In 2023, the European Union slapped Kosovo with sanctions and urged the government to ease tensions in its Serb enclaves.

Earlier this month, the EU again called for an end to the closure of services in the north, which it said was negatively impacting “the lives of ordinary citizens”.

Kurti has labelled the EU measures “unfair” and continued to work against the services, which his office labels “instruments of intimidation, threat and control”.

Amid fears that growing tensions in Serb enclaves could again boil over into violence, which has previously forced NATO-led peacekeepers to intervene, the United States issued a rare rebuke to its close Balkan ally.

Washington on Friday cancelled upcoming high-level discussions with Kosovo over concerns that Kurti’s actions had “increased tensions and instability” in the country.

A spokesman for Kurti responded by thanking Washington for its ongoing support and said he was open to criticism.

“Whenever they are concrete, we try our best to improve and correct our steps and actions,” the spokesman said.

Spies and peacekeepers

Serbia’s influence in the north is a constant reminder of the series of bloody wars that followed Yugoslavia’s disintegration.

International troops have remained in Kosovo since the end of the war, where ethnic tensions have repeatedly flared into violence.

Last month, a Croatian military officer and a woman were accused of espionage and detained in Split, in eastern Croatia. Reports said they had been spying on NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo for Serb groups in the country.

The case is ongoing, but a NATO spokesman told AFP they were taking the allegations “very seriously”.

The commander of NATO-led troops in Kosovo in his update to Brussels on Tuesday said the situation in Kosovo risked “sudden escalation, due to a variety of unresolved issues”.

‘Complete blockade’

With experts warning that Kosovo risks losing further EU funding amid the ongoing crisis, the possibility of fresh elections is increasingly likely.

“Kosovo has no other solution,” economic expert Safet Gerxhaliu told AFP, saying new elections “need to be called quickly”.

“Citizens are paying a high price,” he said.

“If the crisis is not resolved by the end of the year, we will find ourselves in a state of complete breakdown of institutions.”