FLASH NEWS
EU expected to lift all punitive measures against Kosovo on Monday
2026-03-01 23:25:19 / KOSOVA
The European Union is expected to lift all punitive measures against Kosovo on Monday, March 2, imposed more than two and a half years ago.
The decision to this effect has been taken by the relevant bodies of the European Commission and will also be approved by the member states at the meeting of the Working Group on the Western Balkans (COWEB) on Monday, at their meeting in Brussels.
The lifting of all measures against Kosovo was also announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, after a meeting with the leaders of the Western Balkans, including President Vjosa Osmani. At that time, the European Commission had warned that all measures would be lifted “in the early part of 2026”. Since then, the European Commission has been arguing that they are “working on lifting the remaining measures” and that President Ursula von der Leyen’s warning will be fulfilled.
At the end of last year, the European Commission lifted the measures on around 50 percent of the financial assistance, worth approximately €216 million. Now all measures will be lifted, including the release of €205 million from the Pre-Accession Programmes and the Western Balkans Investment Fund.
The measures against Kosovo were imposed in June 2023, as punishment for actions by the Kosovo authorities that the EU and several other partners, such as the United States of America and the Republic of Albania, assessed as "unilateral, uncoordinated actions that increase tensions in northern Kosovo."
At the time the measures were imposed, many EU countries supported them, thinking they were only limited. But it was later realized that they were very extensive and captured an amount of about half a billion euros in financial means that were blocked from Kosovo from various European Union funds.
In addition to financial punitive measures, the EU had also imposed measures in the form of refusing high-level meetings with representatives of the Kosovo government, with the exception of meetings within the framework of the dialogue, the situation in the north, and meetings and visits at the level of the entire region.
European Commission sources have learned that between March 11 and 13, Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, will visit Kosovo. So far, in the 14 months of her mandate, she has never visited Kosovo, while she has visited all the other countries in the region. In addition to the measures against Kosovo, Commissioner Kos was also cited as a justification for not visiting Kosovo because Kosovo has not had a government with full legitimacy throughout 2025 and the Commissioner has had no one to meet with.
In addition to financial punitive measures, all other measures, including political ones, are expected to be lifted.
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