Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced in June that his government planned to apply for candidate status within the year, and his deputy, Besnik Bislimi, doubled down on that in October, stressing that in terms of fulfilling its obligations towards the bloc, Kosovo “is significantly better-placed than all other countries in the region were at the time they applied.”

“Serbia applied even before starting to implement the Stabilisation and Association agreement; Albania applied 2-3 weeks after it received the agreement, while we are in the sixth year of implementing strategic documents,” Bislimi said. 

Indeed, in its latest progress report on Kosovo, the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, commended the former Serbian province, saying it had “strengthened its capacities to coordinate the implementation of the commitments and obligations arising from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, SAA, and ERA II [European Reform Agenda phase 2], and has improved reporting mechanisms.”

Kosovo, however, is in a unique position: five of the EU’s 27 member states do not recognise it as independent, and are unlikely to do so without a binding agreement to settle relations between Serbia and Kosovo, something that looks far from imminent. Experts say the EU, which has still to grant Kosovo citizens a visa waiver, is unlikely to look favourably on a candidacy application.