Lack of Engagement: Surveying the EU Member State Policies Towards Kosovo

On December 8, 2017, Forum 2015 organized the next discussion that aimed to explore ways in which EU Member States politically interact with Kosovo. Kosovo’s declaration of independence, in February 2008, resulted in a deep division within the European Union. While 23 members recognised Kosovo, five refused to accept its statehood. At the time, many observers expected the non-recognisers to fall into line eventually and accept Kosovo. However, in the decade since then, that has not happened. If anything, the picture has become more complex. Rather than two distinct camps, four broad groups now exist. First, there are the countries that have recognised Kosovo, and have forged meaningful relations with it. These include Britain and Germany and most of the other members of the EU. At the other end of the scale there are the states that still refuse to recognise Kosovo, and continue to have very little to do with it. Spain and Cyprus fall into this category. However, between those two poles lie two other factions. Although Greece, Romania and Slovakia have refused to recognise Kosovo, they have nevertheless forged relatively good relations with Pristina. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic and Poland, while recognising Kosovo, have in fact had relatively little diplomatic interaction with Kosovo authorities over the past ten years.