Kosovo

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci says he expects to be acquitted of all charges in the war crimes case against him and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders when the verdict is announced on September 16.

As the country's political crisis continues, the three largest opposition parties in Kosovo skipped a meeting with the acting president, claiming she no longer holds the post legitimately.

Ramush Haradinaj, an MP for the Alliance, formerly the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, told the media on Wednesday that in order to solve the current impasse over the next President, Kurti has to reach a political compromise. … In the June 7 elections, Kurti’s Vetevendosje Movement won 53 of the 120 seats, down four from the last December 2025 election, but well ahead of the Kosovo Democratic Party, PDK, which won 22 seats. The Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, which is Kurti’s most likely coalition partner, won 18 seats.

On 15 July 2026, the Council appointed Mr. Antero Alfarela Oliveira Lopes as Head of Mission of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo) for an initial mandate of 10 months, starting on 10 August 2026. He will succeed Mr. Giovanni Pietro Barbano.

[…] The Council appointed Mr. Dirk Schübel as the new EUSR for Kosovo. He will take up his duties on 1 September 2026 for an initial mandate of two years, succeeding Aivo Orav. Dirk Schübel is a German national and a senior European diplomat with extensive experience in a range of leadership positions within the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Commission and worked also at the German Foreign Ministry. He currently serves as the Head of the Russia Division at the EEAS.

From limited cooperation from other countries to prolonged delays in proceedings, an OSCE report outlines the issues that Kosovo's justice system continues to face in the adjudication of war crime cases.

There have been angry reactions in Kosovo after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague on Wednesday said the verdict in the war crimes and crimes against humanity trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi will not be delivered until September 16.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced on Wednesday at a press conference in Brussels that the Western alliance will considerably reduce peacekeeping troops in Kosovo as a result of the improved security situation in the country’s Serb-majority north compared to 2023.

Albin Kurti’s Vetevendosje Movement, which has ruled Kosovo for the past five years, topped Sunday’s parliamentary elections again, though preliminary results suggest that it will need to cooperate with other parties to govern.

Kosovo is heading towards its third parliamentary election in 16 months. During this time, the politicians did not manage to form government institutions, opting instead for another election that might not provide a very different result to the last one.