Due to the punitive measures imposed by Brussels on Kosovo, many projects funded by the European Union (EU) have been halted, and the sanctions could, according to Reuters, also affect the outcome of today's elections for the Kosovo parliament. The election result could also be influenced by the open criticism directed at the authorities in Pristina by the envoy of the new Donald Trump administration.
EU sanctions have affected all residents of Kosovo, regardless of ethnicity, and the British agency cites as an example the Lumbardi Cinema in Prizren, which has been operating for decades and which provided locals with a kind of window into the world by showing films from Japan, China, and the USA and organizing an annual documentary film festival featuring international artists.
The cinema, which has been struggling financially, had been relying on a €1,5 million EU grant to renovate its heating and plumbing systems. However, on October 7 last year, EU officials informed the cinema's director, Ares Športu, by email that the grant had been cancelled due to "measures imposed by the EU on the Kosovo government," referring to sanctions imposed in 2023 over the bloc's alleged role in stoking ethnic tensions in northern Kosovo.
"This has shaken the community's trust in us, but also in the EU, which claims to support cultural diversity," Športa told Reuters.
Although the EU has not released a list of affected programs, two sources, including a senior diplomat, told Reuters that more than a dozen projects worth at least 150 million euros have been suspended due to the EU's sanctions. They include a 70 million euro wastewater treatment plant and the renovation of a concert hall.
Pristina has sought to downplay the significance of these measures, but the fate of the Lumbardi cinema and some other projects shows their "impact on one of the poorest European countries."
The issue of the impact of European sanctions has come to the fore again as Kosovo prepares for today's elections. This, according to analysts, could jeopardize Kurti's chances for re-election.
Two private opinion polls seen by Reuters show that support for Kurti's Self-Determination party and its coalition partners has fallen to around 40 percent from the 50,2 percent they won in the 2021 elections.
Political analyst Agon Maliqi believes that some citizens are concerned about Kosovo's isolation.
"While most voters may be satisfied that Kosovo has greater control over the north, many may not be convinced that this is sustainable without international support," Maliqi said.
Some EU members want to lift the measures because they have not influenced Kurti to change policy and because they harm ordinary citizens, a senior diplomat and another official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
However, this is opposed by some countries, including France and Hungary, which, according to the British agency, are in favor of Serbia.
The diplomat said the sanctions were unfairly targeted at Kosovo, not Serbia, which also played a role in fueling the tensions. They added that there was no mechanism for lifting the punitive measures, despite their ineffectiveness.
An EU spokesman described the measures as "temporary and reversible," but did not say which projects were affected. Brussels says it will lift the sanctions if Kosovo reduces tensions in the north. "The actions of the Kosovo government so far have not been conducive to that goal," the spokesman said.
Reuters recalls that the EU had called on Pristina to establish a Union of Serb Municipalities to allow greater self-government for Serbs. Fearing secession, Kurti rejected the proposal and instead sought to weaken Serb autonomy in the north.
Kurti defends his policies by claiming they have reduced crime, created jobs, promoted peace and confronted a more powerful aggressor in Serbia. He said at a campaign rally last month that his government's actions were not directed "against Serbs, but against Serbia, because it is against Kosovo and our nation."
However, his decision to appoint ethnic Albanians as mayors in Serb-majority municipalities and to force ethnic Serbs to use Kosovo license plates on their cars sparked the worst violence in 2023 in a decade.
Despite EU sanctions, Kurti persevered. His government banned the use of the Serbian dinar, closed Serb-run post offices, and restricted trade between the two countries.
"The international community has isolated and punished Kosovo. Every great success we have achieved in the last two decades - liberation, independence - was achieved because we worked closely with allies," said Vlora Citaku of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, who was Kosovo's ambassador to the US.
It remains to be seen how the new administration of US President Donald Trump will react, Reuters reports, citing a recent statement by his special envoy for missions, Richard Grenell.
"Both Republicans and Democrats have consistently criticized Kurti for taking unilateral actions that destabilize the region. As have the EU and NATO. The international community is united against Kurti," Grenell wrote on the X network.
Grenell, according to the German newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", openly calls for Kurti's dismissal. The newspaper recalls that back in January, Grenell accused Kurti of bringing Kosovo-US relations to a "low point", that Kurti had always opposed every American idea, even when Trump's predecessors Obama, Bush and Clinton were in power, that is, since the war in Kosovo in 1999.
Ahead of today's elections, Grenell told Kosovo Albanians: "Don't be deceived," the German newspaper reported, emphasizing that this message was addressed to the public of Kosovo, which is traditionally more sensitive to American messages than the public in most other countries.
"It remains to be seen whether it will have the impact Grenell desires. He explicitly declared himself against Kurti even before the previous Kosovo parliamentary elections in February 2021, but Kurti's Self-Determination party won then with a record result of more than fifty percent of the vote. Its goal is to exceed that triumph again," the text adds.
Polls show that Kurti's party could once again be the strongest, the article states, but adds that an absolute majority is uncertain. "If he is forced to form a coalition or if the opposition takes power, Grenell would have achieved his goal: Kurti would be in the opposition or at least in a coalition. Kurti's first government, formed in February 2020, collapsed after just two months, partly because Grenell put enormous pressure on Kurti's coalition partners to leave the coalition, which is what happened," the German newspaper points out.
Kurti, a leftist and Albanian nationalist, has achieved some successes since coming to power in 2021. Unemployment has fallen from 30% to around 10%, the minimum wage has been increased, and last year the economy grew faster than the Western Balkans average.
Yet northern Kosovo remains deeply divided. Education, healthcare, shops and cafes operate separately. Bills in Serbian shops are still quoted in dinars, not euros. Communities live separately - even the style of house construction differs between the two ethnic groups, Reuters notes.
Serbian pensioner Dragoljub Ivić (65), who lives in Gračanica, a Serbian municipality near Pristina, has to travel to Serbia every month to collect his 500 euro pension. He spends 50 euro on the trip alone.
"In Kosovo, the people are suffering because of politics," Ivić said, noting that tensions are much worse now. "They want to force the Serbs to leave Kosovo."
EU sanctions affect all residents.
The EU had pledged 70 million euros to build the first wastewater treatment plant to clean Pristina's garbage-clogged sewage system. That plan has now been put on hold, Pristina Deputy Mayor Alban Zogaj said.
"After decades, we have finally solved the problem of treating wastewater that pollutes the Sitnica River, one of the most polluted rivers in Europe."
Raw sewage is discharged directly into the canals and flows past the house of local resident Sanija Thaci, who cannot open her windows because of the unpleasant smell. "I have no words to describe what we are going through," Thaci said, standing next to a canal through which a gray, polluted stream flows.
"As you can see, there is no solution in sight."
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