The overwhelming re-election of Albin Kurti's Vetëvendosje (LVV) in the December 2025 parliamentary elections in Kosovo represents a seismic shift in the region's political calculations.

This implies a categorical rejection by Kosovo voters of an entire generation of American and European policy in the country and requires a significant recalibration by Washington, but above all, by Brussels, of their stance towards Pristina and Belgrade.

Kurti's relationship with both the first Trump administration and the Biden White House was notoriously tense. In 2020, Kurti accused then-US regional envoy Richard Grenell of orchestrating a parliamentary coup against his first government, and the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Kosovo in May 2023 after a series of Serbian nationalist riots in the north of the country, which it blamed on the prime minister, writes Answer.

At the heart of both Americans and Europeans’ frustrations with Kurti was the belief that he was obstructing the implementation of the 2013 Brussels Agreement, specifically the provision that Kosovo should proceed with the creation of the so-called “Association of (Serbian) Majority Municipalities.”

More broadly, both the US and the EU were angered by Kurti’s pursuit of a sovereignist agenda, which aimed to ensure full rule of Kosovo’s state institutions over all parts of the country’s territory, and pursued Kosovo’s integration into the international system without reference to or reliance on progress in negotiations with Belgrade.

In fact, Kosovo was engaged in unilaterally pursuing its EU and NATO objectives, which the Kurti government clearly believed and emphasized were in full ideological cohesion with both Washington and Brussels, but did not necessarily align with the preferred ranking of either.

Surprisingly, this was a much greater sin in the eyes of many senior American and European officials than Serbia's open rejection of the Euro-Atlantic project.

While Kurti and his government were trying to establish Kosovo’s democratic and security institutions, Serbia was rapidly moving toward one-man rule under Aleksandar Vučić and making its strategic proximity to Russia and China increasingly clear. Despite this, the Biden administration made Serbia the central focus of its Western Balkans policy.

Ambassador Christopher Hill gave Belgrade increasingly implausible praise, even as the Vučić regime orchestrated the paramilitary attack in Banjska, the most significant interstate clash in the region since the late 1990s. The incident even forced the White House to give Serbia clear instructions to remove its army from the Kosovo border, only for Hill to assert seven months later that Serbia was a closer NATO partner than Kosovo.

Coincidentally, almost immediately after leaving public service, Hill joined as Senior Advisor to the Pupin Initiative, an organization that aims to "ensure that Serbian voices are heard in Washington, D.C.... committed to renewing U.S.-Serbia relations through academic, political, and cultural initiatives."

But with the decisive victory of the LVV in December, which saw the party win its fourth consecutive election, and with its highest vote share to date (51.11%, an even bigger result than its 50.25% share in 2021), Kurti and his bloc are simply a political fact. Washington and Brussels may not like this, but Kosovo’s elections, unlike those in Serbia, are free and fair, and Albin Kurti and the LLV are extremely popular.

Especially as Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine, and as the White House signals its apparent plans in Greenland, Europe should soberly examine conditions on the continent.

In Kosovo, EU members themselves have strengthened the hand of its opponents by refusing to fully recognize the sovereignty of a democratic, resolutely pro-Western state. Kurti’s dramatic victory and the clear popular mandate that his government has recaptured are an opportunity to secure Europe’s geopolitical interests.

First, Brussels and the capitals must pave the way for Kosovo to realize its European and Atlantic aspirations. Spain, one of five EU countries that does not recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty, finally seems willing to allow Pristina to begin taking some of the formal steps toward membership in the bloc. This is long overdue, and Madrid’s opposition to Kosovo’s sovereignty – the recognition of which has historically been conditional on an agreement with Serbia – has become completely untenable since its unilateral recognition of Palestine.

Second, as part of the European commitment to reengage with Kosovo, capitals should also support the country’s entry as an equal and sovereign member of two critical international institutions: the Council of Europe and NATO’s Partnership for Peace. Kosovo already meets the criteria to join both, but what is lacking is the political will to allow its entry. Keeping Kosovo out in the cold only serves to reward the stubbornness of hardline nationalists in Belgrade and artificially preserves Serbia’s advantage over the international status of both states.

Third, in terms of the transatlantic relationship, these maneuvers would provide another opportunity for Europe to signal to the US its capacity for burden-sharing. This, in turn, addresses aspects of Washington’s core concerns with Arctic security and Ukraine (namely, that Europe is not paying its fair share with regard to shared Atlantic interests) and demonstrates Europe’s genuine commitment to its geopolitical credibility and self-defense.

Finally, such a policy relaunch would alert Belgrade that obstruction of Kosovo’s integration into the international system will not be tolerated indefinitely. And if this were to happen in a relatively short time, Brussels and Washington could also secure the political goodwill in Pristina to seek Kosovo’s reengagement with the Brussels Agreement.

The EU and the capitals can no longer afford their short-sighted and provincial disregard for the Western Balkans.

Kosovo and the democratic will of its citizens offer Brussels an opportunity to assert its geopolitical importance. It should not waste this opportunity./Telegrafi

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