By Daniel Serwer, @DanielSerwer
Prishtina, 05 July 2026, dtt-net.com / peacefare.net – I spent last week in Kosovo on a speaking tour with colleagues to mark America’s 250th. My focus was not only on the Western Balkans but also on America. I’ve published the talking points I prepared for myself here.
But Kosovars were more interested in what I thought about them.
The politics
The country had to hold three elections in less than 16 months It still doesn’t have a new president or a fully empowered government. Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination–in power since 2020–has enough seats, along with minority representatives, to get the required majority in parliament.
But two-thirds are needed to select a President. The fragmented opposition isn’t willing to support Kurti’s proposed candidates. It is unclear whether the opposition can agree on one of their own. Or whether the Prime Minister will support an opposition candidate if they do. He may prefer to take the country to a fourth election.
That would risk the ire of the electorate. Participation was down in the latest election, as was Kurti’s vote. The population wants the politicians to get on with doing their jobs. Polarization is making that difficult.
The opposition fears Kurti wants to change the constitution, which includes minority rights he dislikes. They also think he has been high-handed and even anti-American or authoritarian in his handling of some issues. That makes compromise difficult.
The economy
Kurti’s years in power have been relatively prosperous, as he has ridden the post-COVID wave. He has also managed to raise Kosovo’s rankings on various rule of law indices, including the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (though Kosovo dipped a point in 2025). But he has also lavished extra payments on pensioners and others just before elections. While the recipients have mostly been at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, vote buying degrades democracy.
Kosovo, though a small country, faces big energy sector issues. It imports a lot of its electricity. Its own power plants burn abundant domestic lignite, which generates horrendous air pollution. Kurti aims to increase renewables and storage, but he also wants to modernize the existing power plants and gasify lignite. He has so far passed on importing American liquified natural gas (LNG) by extending a pipeline from nearby Macedonia.
That has generated a brouhaha, as the Trump Administration is trying to make gas supply a geopolitical issue. Kurti claims importing electricity from a US LNG-fired power plant in Vlora, Albania suffices. But that represents a fraction of the LNG that could be imported from Skopje.
Obscured in the public debate is the issue of price. American LNG is expensive. So, too, is lignite gasification, with byproducts that won’t be easy to dispose of. All other things being equal, it would obviously be desirable if Kosovo imported American LNG, but it is not clear whether all other things are really equal. Lignite has the advantage of being local. But is it cheaper than LNG after gasification? The Prime Minister refers to the current energy plans as those of the Economy Minister. Maybe that suggests a willingness to reconsider?
The society
It is hard to take the temperature of a society on a brief visit. But some things are obvious.
There is an enormous amount of construction going on in Kosovo, fueled in large part by diaspora money. The country has exported a lot of people–perhaps a third of its citizens live abroad. Some of them are willing to risk sending euros home. That is a good sign. But public sector infrastructure is lagging–the country needs more highways and railroads.
Shops and service establishments are greatly modernized in the almost twenty years since independence. There are lots of good restaurants, hotels, shopping centers, banks, and coffee houses, not to mention Mercedes dealerships and Chinese electric vehicles. Health care is shaky–Kosovo lacks health insurance. Most people rely on the government-run system, but those who can afford it get care privately and go to private hospitals.
Inter-ethnic crime is rare. Serbs and other minorities circulate freely in Kosovo, according to the American military forces deployed there. But I am told in both the Serb and Albanian communities harsh verbal condemnations of “the other” are common. Political tensions run high, especially in North Mitrovica, not least because Belgrade keeps them that way.
Conclusion
Things could be better in Kosovo. It could have a fully empowered government that doesn’t buy votes. The population would enjoy more rapid growth and more public infrastructure. It could be doing better in promoting understanding and cooperation between Serbs and Albanians. Its politicians could be cooperating in trying to deliver the best possible services to its citizens. Its former metropole, Belgrade, could be less hostile.
But things are much improved from the past, with prospects to improve more in the future. The vital next step is membership in NATO, for which the Kosovo Security Forces will be ready in 2028. The Americans will have to convince the four non-recognizing NATO members to accept Kosovo. EU membership should not be too long after that, provided the next government makes a concerted effort to implement the EU-compatible legislation the parliament already passes.
With NATO and EU membership, Kosovo won’t care much about the lack of UN membership, which won’t happen until Russia and Serbia are enjoying a democratic resurgence that is hard to picture today.
PS: The US Embassy July 4 party was great!
Daniel Serwer is a Professor of the Practice of Conflict Management as well as director of the Conflict Management and American Foreign Policy Programs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
This opinion was published first at his peacefare.net website.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of dtt-net.com.
