Kosovo’s NATO future: How to Square the Circle?
Publisher: Kimberley Kruijver and Visar Xhambazi
Volume: 11 pages, pdf
Description:
Of all the Western Balkan countries, Kosovo is the last one to develop and implement its independent foreign security and defence policy. Since the country’s independence in 2008, NATO integration has been one of the main governmental priorities. To date, Kosovo remains the only country in the region that does not have some form of contractual relationship with the Alliance (see Figure 1).1 Rapprochements, such as the application for the Partnership for Peace programme2 in 2012, have so far been in vain. Believing it would be a game changer, the Kosovo Parliament voted in December 2018 to transform its security forces, the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), into a national army. The transformation has been on the political agenda multiple times, as Pristina conceives this to be the final step for Kosovo to complete its security institutions.