Kosovo signs EU association agreement

By Andrew McDowall

Brussels embraces Kosovo in a bid to stabilize the Balkans.

Kosovo signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union on Tuesday — a first step towards the still-distant prospect of EU membership.
The agreement buttresses Kosovo’s fragile international status, and could help stabilize it internally. Kosovo is unrecognized by the United Nations and five EU member states; it remains deeply divided on ethnic lines; serious war crimes allegations implicating the political elite remain unresolved; and for the last three weeks parliamentary sessions have been disrupted by tear gas released by the opposition in the chamber.

The EU integration process “has now officially begun,” Bekim Çollaku, Kosovo’s minister for European integration, told POLITICO. “It is a clear confirmation that Kosovo can one day become a member of the EU.”
The SAA is expected to enter into force in the first half of next year, incrementally removing tariffs on Kosovo’s exports to the EU, while introducing EU regulations in areas including state aid, competition, and intellectual property. It also supports reforms ranging from the judiciary to energy.
The UN doesn’t recognize Kosovo, thanks in large part to a Russian veto. Moscow backs Serbia’s stance that the overwhelmingly ethnic-Albanian territory is a breakaway province, and that its 2008 declaration of independence is invalid. Kosovo’s status is backed by the U.S. and many European countries.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia after a 1998-1999 war that was brought to an end by a NATO bombing campaign.
Brussels has been working to normalize relations between the two former enemies, a strategy helped by enticing Serbia into closer ties with the EU. Agreements signed in 2013 and this August gave Kosovo greater theoretical control over the ethnic-Serb-dominated north, while boosting autonomy for Serb municipalities. Serbia was granted official EU membership candidate status in January 2014.
“Moving forward in the context of the SAA is contingent on Kosovo playing an active role in continuous improvement of good relations with the region,” said Çollaku.
However, the deals with Serbia have infuriated Kosovo’s nationalist opposition.
“The signing of the SAA will do little to diffuse tensions between the government and the opposition, which has in recent weeks manifested itself in the form of tear gas attacks within the Kosovo Assembly,” said a Western diplomat in Pristina, the Kosovo capital. “There is a strong sense within Kosovo that Belgrade is being better rewarded for its compromises during the Brussels negotiations.”
The diplomat was cautious over the SAA, saying it would not bring “immediate and tangible benefits to Kosovo’s citizens.”
“The Kosovo economy is simply not prepared to exploit the new trading opportunities that will now exist; contrary to the optimism expressed by several of its ministers. The forthcoming progress reports will starkly demonstrate how far behind Kosovo is vis-a-vis other countries of the Western Balkans, “ he said.
Kosovo, with 1.8 million people, is one of the continent’s poorest countries. It has a per capita GDP of $3,990, according to the World Bank, less than any of its other post-Yugoslav neighbors, and unemployment is 35 percent.
Çollaku admitted that Kosovo is still very far from joining the EU.
“We are not applying for membership yet, we are merely taking the first step which should help us fulfil the political, legal and economic criteria,” he said. “We understand that the atmosphere in Europe right now may not be the brightest in enlargement terms, but by the time Kosovo would be ready to join the Union political circumstances will inevitably have changed.”