For Kosovo, most of this year has passed under the sign of political crisis – after the regular parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025, none of the parties received a majority of 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament, which led to an institutional and political blockage and the impossibility of forming a government, BTA writes in an analysis.
Almost seven months after the elections and after 57 unsuccessful attempts to constitute the parliament, on August 26, the institution elected a speaker. The full number of deputy speakers – five – was secured on October 10. After two unsuccessful attempts by the ruling left-wing nationalist Movement “Self-Determination“ in Kosovo (LVV) of Prime Minister Albin Kurti to form a cabinet, as permitted by the constitution, Kosovo headed towards early elections on December 28.
The vote held this Sunday passed peacefully, and the vote count was record-breaking fast - support for the parties was 95 percent clear that evening, unlike in the regular parliamentary elections, when preliminary results were published 11 days later.
According to the full preliminary data published yesterday by the Kosovo Central Election Commission (CEC) after the early parliamentary elections held in Kosovo on Sunday, the ruling left-wing nationalist "Self-Determination" Movement (LVV) of Prime Minister Albin Kurti won 49.34 percent of support.
The preliminary figures published online by the CEC do not include votes from abroad and from "conditional" polling stations, as well as those of people with special needs, which are expected to be taken into account in January 2026.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said in a statement after the vote that, following the political deadlock following the February 2025 elections, the EU looks forward to the swift formation of a new parliament and government in Kosovo.
Although the country has largely been "on pause" due to the blocked work of institutions following the regular parliamentary elections in February, some events have brought some momentum.
Kosovo citizens went to the polls a total of four times – in regular and early elections and in two rounds of local elections in October and November.
The local vote, in addition to changing the map of Kosovo, also brought an important development - the largest party of Kosovo Serbs, the "Serbian List", which enjoys the support of Belgrade, won in all ten predominantly Serb municipalities in Kosovo. Ethnic Serb mayors took office in early December in four predominantly Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo, more than two years after a political crisis led to tensions and clashes with NATO peacekeepers.
This led to a partial lifting of the punitive measures that the EU imposed on Kosovo in June 2023. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that after the partial lifting of the European Union's measures against Kosovo, 205 million euros are expected to be allocated to the country early next year.
Despite these developments, the dialogue on the normalization of relations Belgrade - Pristina is at a standstill - with the exception of the appointment of a new one - Peter Sørensen - after the expiration of the mandate of the previous EU special envoy, Miroslav Lajčák. The Kosovo Prime Minister has not met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić since the attack in the village of Banska in September 2023.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. The two countries have been engaged in a dialogue to normalize relations with the mediation of the EU since 2011 and have reached several agreements, but not all of them have been implemented. Progress in this process is key to both countries' aspirations for EU membership.
Another “pause“, this time in relations between Kosovo and its key partner the United States, came in September.
On September 12, the United States announced that it was suspending the strategic dialogue with Kosovo indefinitely. A statement from the US embassy said Washington was taking the drastic step because of concerns that the outgoing government's actions in Pristina have increased tensions and instability and limited the US's ability to work productively with Kosovo on shared priorities. The embassy cited "recent actions and statements by outgoing Prime Minister (Albin) Kurti" as the reason, which have "questioned the progress made over many years," but did not provide further details.
In recent years, Kurti has been criticized by Kosovo's international allies for some decisions in northern Kosovo - an area populated mainly by Serbs - which were related to the replacement of Serbian license plates on cars with Kosovo ones, the abolition of the Serbian dinar as a means of payment and the closure of institutions operating under the Serbian system, the Albanian edition of Radio Free Europe recalls.
The Kosovo authorities this year opened a new bridge in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. This came after criticism from the US and the EU of the Kosovo government's plans to open an old bridge over the Ibar River - a symbol of division and the site of numerous clashes between the two communities - to traffic. which has been closed for over 25 years.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in December that his country's relations with the United States are very good and that the main disagreements have always been related to Serbia and its structures, never to bilateral issues.
Among the good news for Kosovo this year was the recognition of its independence by four countries in 2025 - Kenya, Sudan, Syria and the Bahamas - bringing the country's independence to 121 countries worldwide.
In the field of defense, among other things, the country signed a framework contract with a US company for the purchase of modern mobile artillery systems "Hawkeye" and officially received anti-tank weapons from Germany, in particular the well-known "Panzerfaust" system (Panzerfaust 3), as well as "thousands of combat drones" kamikaze “Skydagger“ from Turkey.
The construction of Kosovo's first ammunition factory and drone design laboratory is also underway, to be carried out by the Turkish state-owned company MKE (Makine ve Kimya Endüstrisi – Machinery and Chemical Industry Company) and is expected to be completed in 2026.
An important moment was the agreement on defense cooperation between Kosovo, Albania and Croatia, signed on March 18. The declaration of defense cooperation between Croatia, Kosovo, and Albania has sparked a backlash in Belgrade.
In 2025, dissatisfaction with the long-term detention of former commanders of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi, and Yakup Krasniqi at the Special Court for Kosovo in The Hague escalated into protests. Peaceful demonstrations in support of the former KLA leaders took place in Pristina, The Hague, Tirana, Strasbourg and Skopje.
The four former KLA commanders were remanded in custody in The Hague on 4 and 5 November 2020 following the confirmation of the indictment against them for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. Thaçi, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi have pleaded not guilty and denied all charges. Their trial began at the Special Court for Kosovo in The Hague on 3 April 2023 and was scheduled to conclude in December 2025.
Another important event in the country this year was the public confirmation that Kosovo is considering the possibility of building return centres for asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected by the UK. The Kosovo Prime Minister stated in late October that Kosovo "wants to help" Britain in the fight against illegal migration in exchange for support to strengthen its security against threats from Serbia and Russia.
During the year, it was also reported that Belgium was negotiating with Albania and Kosovo to rent or build a prison for foreigners without the right to stay in the EU.
Against the backdrop of these and many other events that have brought dynamics to the big picture of the country "paused" due to an internal political crisis, Kosovo is welcoming 2026 with readiness to unblock the work of its institutions after the parliamentary vote at the end of the outgoing year.