Government in the process of reporting on reforms, civil society finds stagnation

The political deadlock that is blocking the constitution of new institutions has called into question the fulfillment of the European Reform Agenda. The government, which is currently in the process of reporting on the implementation of the reform agenda for the first half of 2025, insists that the current blockade in the Assembly does not yet endanger this process. But civil society organizations emphasize that there are serious delays in the fulfillment of the reforms

Kosovo Government officials have insisted that the implementation of reforms from the European Agenda is not jeopardized as a result of the blockade in the Assembly, while confirming that they are in the process of reporting for the first half of 2025. But they have not ruled out the possibility that this situation will have a negative impact in the future, which they have also warned the European Union about.

"We are currently in the process of reporting on the implementation of the reform agenda for the first half of 2025. Therefore, we emphasize that the implementation of the agreement and the reform agenda is currently not at risk, but it will naturally have a negative impact if the opposition blockade in the Assembly continues," said Klisman Kadiu, political advisor in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Integration and Dialogue, Besnik Bislimi.  

Unless the agreement with the EU is ratified, Kosovo will be denied 61.8 million euros in pre-financing from the Growth Plan and 32,8 million from the reforms that Kosovo has already implemented, for a total of around 94 million euros.

The blocking of over 800 million euros from the European Union as a result of the failure to constitute the ninth legislature of the Assembly, which should ratify the agreement with the bloc, directly affects projects related to Kosovo's integration, such as: education, economic development, and the well-being of citizens.

Organizations that monitor the fulfillment of the criteria arising from EU integration note a slowdown in the implementation of the reform agenda.

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"The European Reform Agenda (ERA) came out after the Stabilization and Association Agreement, which entered into force in 2016. The SAA itself was foreseen for ten years. Given that its implementation has been at a low level, the European Union has made a kind of request to the Government to accelerate the reforms through the ERA. The European Reform Agenda (ERA) had a limited time frame, and since those reforms were not fulfilled, ERA 2 was then achieved. Now we are risking that the current reform agenda will have the same fate. Given that we are now at the Growth Plan, this has in a way fallen into the background. Since we have been under EU sanctioning measures since June 2023, meetings of the SAA Committees and Sub-Committees have not been held, for that reason there has also been a kind of stagnation. Although it is legally in force politically, attention is now "to the Growth Plan", emphasized Besar Gërgi, researcher at GLPS.

According to the Reform Agenda Monitoring, updated this month by the Legal and Policy Studies Group, in the first half of 2025, Kosovo failed to make significant progress in implementing its Reform Agenda.

“On the one hand, the processes and procedures for the establishment of legal and technical structures for implementation have been concluded, such as the official submission of the Reform Agenda to the European Commission. However, on the other hand, the appointment of the National Coordinator of the Reform Agenda and the establishment of national monitoring structures, such as the Growth Fund Supervisory Committee and the Anti-Fraud Coordination Service, have not yet been decided, while the official ratification of the Fund Agreement and the Loan Agreement is still pending. Furthermore, the ratification of the agreement, the establishment of national monitoring structures and the involvement of civil society remain incomplete. As a result, Kosovo was not eligible for the pre-financing funds of 61.8 million euros,” the GLPS report states.

In this update, the reform monitor has followed 13 out of 20 reform steps foreseen for the deadlines of December 2024 and June 2025. Overall, it is found that the reform program is beyond the deadlines for this semester, seriously compromising the sustainable implementation of the Reform Agenda.

“Kosovo still does not have a functioning Assembly and Government following the February 9 elections. While this political instability has affected all areas of governance, the Reform Agenda has faced serious obstacles due to the lack of sustainable decision-making,” the report states.

The Financial Instrument Agreement, which establishes all the structures that will implement and monitor the Reform Agenda, has been negotiated and signed by the European Commission and the Government, and has been approved by the latter, but has not yet been ratified by the Parliament.

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According to the report, the loan agreement is still in the negotiation process and the chances are slim that it will be concluded without a government with a full mandate.

"The conclusion and ratification of these agreements is a prerequisite for receiving pre-financing of 7% of the entire package of funds dedicated to Kosovo, which amounts to 61.8 million euros," the report states.

The vacuum in decision-making has also affected the pace of reforms, as many of them require the approval of laws in the Assembly and strategies in the Government, and as noted by GLPS, this blocks subsequent steps.

"If Kosovo fails to have a functional executive and legislature soon, it risks losing momentum even for the reform steps foreseen for December 2025, which means that three out of seven semesters will be seriously behind schedule. Such a scenario would severely damage the integrity of the Reform Agenda and could potentially lead to its renegotiation," the GLPS report states.

The parties that won seats in the February 9 elections have accused each other of the blockade that has an impact on relations with the EU. Even after the Constitutional Court's ruling, the parties have not moved from the positions they have taken since April 15, when the constitutive sessions began. The Vetëvendosje Movement insists on a secret ballot for candidate Albulena Haxhiu, while the former opposition, which is not participating in the vote, is demanding a change of candidate to pave the way for the constitution of the Assembly.

Klisman Kadiu has accused the opposition of the, as he said, meaningless blockade in the Assembly, "which could have a negative impact on processes so important for the present and future of the country, such as European integration, and specifically in this case the Growth Plan."

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Kadiu stated that public opinion is being created, consciously or unconsciously, with continuous alarms regarding the Growth Plan, according to them, sometimes even unfounded. According to him, there are also civil society organizations in Kosovo that insisted and continue to insist that Kosovo will lose pre-financing funds immediately after July 1.

The European Union has also expressed concern about the non-ratification of the agreement a few days ago. Officials from the bloc have said that Kosovo remains within its right to benefit from the advance financing once the relevant agreements related to the Reform and Development Program are ratified. However, according to them, the Reform and Development Program is a time-limited instrument, approved for the period 2024–2027, “and it is in Kosovo’s interest that ratification occurs as soon as possible in order to make the most of all the opportunities offered by the Development Plan, for the benefit of its citizens.”