From the "naughty boy" of Kosovo politics, to second place on the list of the longest-serving prime ministers of post-war Kosovo.
Albin Kurti, leader of the Vetëvendosje party, needed only four years to cover this path.
“For the first time since the Declaration of Independence in 2008, a Kosovo government has managed to complete its mandate without early elections, large protests, or the usual demands for ministerial resignations.
"All of this speaks of enormous support and stability, but not at the expense of democracy or media freedom, like in neighboring countries," Arber Zaimi, a member of the party's Presidium since 2010, tells the BBC.
The very existence of the Presidium, as the highest body consisting of 23 members and which formally makes decisions, reflects the history of Vetëvendosje, which was founded 20 years ago as a civic movement.
"Kurti is still more of an activist than someone who governs; he still behaves as if he were in opposition: he wants more power, he blames the media, he blames the prosecution," says Agon Maliqi, a political analyst from Pristina.
- "In Kosovo, there was a conflict between Albanians as a nation and Serbia as a state - not Albanians and Serbs."
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Parliamentary elections will be held in Kosovo on February 9th, electing 120 members of parliament, ten of whom belong to the Serbian community and ten to minorities.
In the elections four years ago, Vetëvendosje won enough mandates to form a government on its own, while the largest opposition groups became the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo.
Read who is running in the Kosovo elections on February 9th HERE.
Jobs and justice
When he became Prime Minister for the second time in March 2021, having spent only four months in that position in 2020, Albin Kurti summed up his program in two words.
Jobs and justice.
The minimum wage in Kosovo today is 350 euros compared to 180 euros four years ago, and this will put Arber Zaimi high on the list of achievements of Self-Determination.
He states that Kosovo's economy has grown by an average of six percent annually, that exports have doubled, that foreign investment is twice the average for the period from 2007 to 2020, and that public debt is among the lowest in Europe.
"In the economy, the government painted things rosy, and reforms are slow, there are no major infrastructure projects, although there is awareness that a lot of pressure came from outside, such as inflation or the war in Ukraine," says Agon Maliqi, a political analyst, who points out that the opposition wants to exploit this weak point of the government in the current campaign.
The fight against corruption has not always been simple: an attempt to pass two laws in the field of justice did not end in success.
"The media has reported on corruption cases, some of which are being investigated, and indictments have been filed against certain people supported by the prime minister in the areas of the electricity industry and commodity reserves," points out Visar Imeri, Kurti's predecessor at the head of Vetëvendosje, now outside the party and at the head of the Institute for Social Policy.
His former party colleague Arber Zaimi claims that things are quite the opposite.
"The Prime Minister and ministers are not only not corrupt, but they are actually leading the fight against corruption, which benefits the wallets of the economy and citizens."
However, one of Kosovo's biggest problems, which it shares with others in the region, remains the exodus of people abroad.
Data from the latest census shows that the population is decreasing, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs records high numbers of those leaving Kosovo.
How the relationship with Serbia jumped up the priority list
In a 2021 interview with the BBC in Serbian, Albin Kurti placed relations with Serbia only fourth on the list of priorities.
It would turn out that, in the mandate that followed, this was a topic that the Kosovo Prime Minister dealt with very often: from meetings with Aleksandar Vučić, the President of Serbia, to dealing with barricades and boycotts by Kosovo Serbs.
Although the implementation of the Brussels and Ohrid Agreements, which were agreed upon during the mandate of this government, is officially not going smoothly, the situation on the ground is changing in accordance with what was written there.
In municipalities populated by Serbs, apart from schools and hospitals, there are no longer any institutions managed from Serbia: post offices, banks, social services.
There are no more car license plates for municipalities in Kosovo issued by the Serbian police, nor are there any payments in dinars, nor is there any establishment of a community of municipalities with a Serbian majority.
Vehicles with Kosovo license plates can freely cross into Serbia, while passengers with Kosovo documents are no longer issued additional travel documents.
The clear line of establishing a firmer government in Pristina was not stopped even by the armed attack in Banjska, in northern Kosovo, for which a group of Serbs led by Milan Radoičić was accused - quite the opposite, things accelerated further after September 2023.
"One of the greatest successes of this government is establishing the rule of law in every part of the Republic, while applying a gentle and inclusive approach towards citizens of all communities."
"We have shown zero tolerance towards those who engage in illegal activities, regardless of nationality," says Arber Zaimi.
Rada Trajković viewed Kurti's arrival as Prime Minister of Kosovo with some hope, after years of rule by traditional Kosovo Albanian parties often associated with the war-torn 1990s.
"I expected him, as a man who suffered unjust reprisals and was in a Serbian prison during the time of Slobodan Milošević, to come to power with the desire to teach the citizens of Kosovo that revenge and revanchism are not a way of life."
"However, through his rhetoric and work style, he managed to alienate Serbs and Albanians, with the help of his cadres, young Albanians who do not remember the war events," says a long-time politician from Kosovo, who also warns of growing religious extremism.
Kurti had a minister from the Serbian community in his government, Nenad Rašić, whom he chose, contrary to tradition, over the Serbian List, the party that won all ten mandates guaranteed to Serbs in the previous elections.
Meanwhile, the Serbian List distanced itself from the Kosovo Assembly, and Serbian police officers and judicial workers left Kosovo institutions.
"The fact is that some parallel institutions have been abolished, but the Serbs who were in Kosovo institutions are no longer in them."
"It's a status that is not clear, so we can't say there has been progress - we need to establish local institutions that represent the people, especially in the north," says opposition MP Haki Abazi.
Even minimal trust, shattered by police actions in the north, which have left Kosovo Serbs without practical solutions to life's issues, will be difficult to rebuild.
"It's very difficult to find anyone in the Serbian community who is willing to give Kurti a new chance."
"However, I still don't think he hates Serbs, even though he has committed some irreparable acts against Serbs," concludes Rada Trajković.
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Instead of opposition, party challenges
When the Self-Determination movement was founded in 2005, it gained public attention with radical actions in which it demanded an end to the international protectorate over Kosovo established in 1999, unification with Albania, a social revolution, and greater equality.
With its transformation into a party and participation in elections since 2010, support for the new force on the political scene has gradually grown.
The failed coalition government in 2020 was just a warm-up for a convincing election victory a year later and a supermajority of MPs.
There was no serious opposition challenge: ministers were not replaced under pressure, there were no anti-government protests in the streets.
Visar Imeri, leader of Vetëvendosje from 2015 to 2018, says that the party has changed its own face during its years in power.
"The party is becoming a catch-all party, one that seeks to encompass all ideas - from conservatives, even religious conservatives, to social democrats, neoliberals," he says.
Those who remained in the party say that the changes are not essential.
"Vetevendosje is now bigger and aiming for support from more than 50 percent of voters, and that certainly means temporarily putting aside some radical and polarizing ideas."
"But it is still a movement of the center and left of the political spectrum, which cherishes social inclusion and equality, along with democratic sovereignty, as key ideals," says Arber Zaimi, a member of the inner leadership for 15 years.
While not facing external challenges, Vetëvendosje struggled with internal turmoil.
As many as five MPs left the ruling party's caucus, which is certainly not a common practice in Balkan politics, which is mostly accustomed to shifts in the opposite direction.
"Party people on the ground cannot find a common language with voters, so the party has become one man - Kurti."
"Without him, it wouldn't exist, like Syriza and Tsipras in Greece: people voted for him because they were tired of other parties," says Haki Abazi, a former member of Vetëvendosje and then an independent MP who joined Ramush Haradinaj's group.
Visar Imeri, who led Vetëvendosje during the only period when Albin Kurti was not at its helm, is also not among the previous members.
"Even during the time of opposition activity, there were many different opinions in the party, different people with authority, and now there is only Kurti with a team of technocrats who do not have much political weight," says analyst Agon Maliqi.
'The Eternal Student' and disappointed expectations
Albin Kurti showed signs of leadership abilities as early as 1997, when he led student protests by Kosovo Albanians.
That was when he was arrested for the first time, and he spent more than three years in Serbian prisons, accused of terrorism.
After being released from prison, he graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and was not politically active for several years, but that did not last long.
In 2005, Kurti's supporters wrote "No negotiations, self-determination!" on the building of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, after which a movement of that name was founded.
What followed were years of protests, blockades, tear gas in the streets and in parliament, and even the arrest and trial of Kurti in Kosovo.
Visar Imeri is disappointed because he believes that "Kosovo is missing the chance for change through a movement that emerged from society."
From the prime minister's chair, in a suit and tie, Kurti is today leading the election campaign in which he is the central figure of Vetëvendosje.
With great emotion, at rallies across Kosovo he shouts the name of the party he founded, while supporters call him "father."
He proudly speaks of his successes in establishing government in northern Kosovo, while at the same time announcing increases in salaries and pensions, public transportation throughout Kosovo for 10 euros per month, the establishment of a Development Bank and loans for the economy, new roads, railways, and the establishment of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
However, for the opposition, Kurti is a man who is more concerned with the past than the future.
"Today, people see him as just another politician who did not bring the promised results to Kosovo," says opposition figure Haki Abazi.
For his party comrades, Albin Kurti has everything necessary for political survival.
"Kurti is a person who learns a lot, in a way he is an eternal student, and learning always brings change."
"The international situation forces an individual to learn something new every day, so I think his strategy is more sophisticated now," says Kurti's political ally Arber Zaimi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLlaHeLwcVA
Seventeen years after declaring independence, Kosovo has been recognized by around 100 countries. However, the exact number is unknown.
Pristina cites a figure of 117 countries, and in Belgrade they say that there are far fewer.
Among the countries of the European Union that have not recognized Kosovo are Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece and Romania, and when it comes to world powers, they are Russia, China, Brazil and India.
Since 2008, Kosovo has become a member of several international organizations, such as the IMF, the World Bank and FIFA, but not the United Nations.
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