NATO membership is more than a political desire for Kosovo – it is an urgent necessity. This is the position held not only by the country’s authorities, but also by several important allies, at a time when warnings about the growing threat from Russia continue unabated.
NATO promises that its commitment to regional stability will remain unwavering, but is this enough for a country that is on the front lines of strategic challenges?
The acting government of Kosovo confirms that membership in the Western military alliance remains the Republic’s goal, but emphasizes that the path towards this objective “also depends on geopolitical circumstances and developments.”
Officials did not give a direct answer to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty whether there are plans for a formal application for membership, but they highlighted the country’s continued commitment in this regard.
“Over the past few years, we have significantly increased investments dedicated to defense. In 2024, the Republic of Kosovo, namely the Assembly of Kosovo, advanced its status in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from an observer member to an associate member. Meanwhile, three times, in 2021, 2023 and 2025, we have been a participating and host country of the Defender Europe military exercises,” spokesman Përparim Kryeziu told Radio Free Europe.
Of the six Western Balkan countries, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia are already members of NATO. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are part of the Partnership for Peace, while Kosovo remains outside this cooperation framework for political reasons.
In the 32-member NATO, there are four countries – Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain – that do not recognize Kosovo’s independence, while for most allies, normalizing its relations with Serbia remains a key condition for any step forward towards membership.
Serbia, from Kosovo’s perspective, constitutes the main security risk, while Russia is seen as the actor that fuels and exploits this tension to expand its destabilizing influence in the Balkans.
Therefore, NATO’s expansion with Kosovo would contribute to strengthening regional stability, according to President Vjosa Osmani.
“For us, being in NATO means being safe. I think Russia has a long-term interest in destabilizing the Western Balkans, and through it the entire European continent. And it will not give up on this goal,” Osmani said in an interview with Politico. NATO chief Mark Rutte raised the alarm on December 11, warning that the Alliance’s allies are Russia’s next target.
“Russia has brought war back to Europe, and Europe must be prepared,” he said.
Since the start of the full-scale Russian occupation of Ukraine nearly four years ago, Kosovo has repeatedly requested accelerated membership in NATO.
Radio Free Europe asked this alliance whether there are plans to deepen engagement with Kosovo, beyond the KFOR peacekeeping mission, or whether mechanisms are being considered that would offer Kosovo stronger security guarantees.
The response received from a spokesperson only states that “The Western Balkans, in general, remains high on NATO’s agenda. It is a region of strategic importance to the Alliance. Our commitment to its stability is unwavering and we will not allow a security vacuum to exist.”
While acknowledging that authoritarian states, such as Russia, try to interfere and undermine democracies, the NATO spokesman also underlined the fragile security situation in Kosovo, describing dialogue with Serbia as essential for resolving open issues.
NATO last expanded last year with Sweden. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted it and Finland a year earlier to end decades of military neutrality and seek collective security.
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the country is ready to give up its aspirations to join NATO in exchange for security guarantees. Despite this, Ukraine’s membership in the alliance – whose members are obligated to defend each other – has always been almost impossible, due to opposition from Russia.
Former senior NATO official Jamie Shea says Kosovo could perhaps benefit from this situation because NATO does not want to create the impression that Russia has a veto over its decision-making.
“NATO has always prided itself on the autonomy of its decisions. And if it has to give up Ukraine’s membership for the moment, it may want to compensate by expanding to two candidate countries in the Western Balkans – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo – to show that the Alliance’s doors remain open,” Shea tells Radio Free Europe’s Expose program.
Article 10 of the NATO Treaty sets out the conditions for enlargement, emphasizing that membership is offered to all European states that share the Alliance’s values ??and have the capacity to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic.
Former Albanian Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu, who participated in the negotiations for his country’s NATO membership, argues that Kosovo has made progress militarily, but highlights the obstacles in the internal functioning of the state. For most of this year, Kosovo has had a government in office and no functioning parliament.
The media underlines the importance of political unity, also mentioning the experience of Albania, where the government and the opposition had a common position during the accession process.
“Without this, it is impossible to advance in NATO. NATO is not just a desire. It is a process of political, institutional, legal commitments, the fight against crime, against corruption… This is the political package. And then comes the reform of the armed forces, where Kosovo has not moved with slow steps, but with positive steps,” Mediu tells Exposena.
According to Mediu, Kosovo’s integration into NATO does not come just by positioning itself against Serbia or Russia – it requires a concrete strategic offer to allies, especially the US.
Relations with the US, he says, cannot be taken for granted; it must be clear what Kosovo and the Albanian factor in the region offer in return.
He sees solutions in gradual de facto integration: regional military cooperation and joint operational capabilities.
“This would be a very positive platform to accelerate the process. If Kosovo were to be involved with other NATO countries in the Balkan region, in the creation of joint operational levels, dealing with forces ready to act, with the observation of air, sea, land space, etc., Kosovo would, de facto, be locked into a relationship with NATO,” says Mediu.
Along the same lines, Shea says that Kosovo should deepen cooperation with Albania and Croatia, with which it already has a defense partnership, to demonstrate its contribution to regional stability.
In parallel, according to him, the country must advance domestic reforms and diplomatic engagement.
“I think, first of all, we need to have a better working relationship between Albin Kurti’s government and the United States and the major European powers. To be frank, these relationships have not been easy in recent years, and Kurti has faced direct criticism from the United States and some European allies. The internal situation in Kosovo, with the blockades in Parliament, the failure to elect a president, and the fact that we now have elections again on December 28, has also contributed to the political instability not working in Kosovo’s favor,” says Shea.
He adds that Kosovo’s membership in NATO would bring mainly political benefits, as KFOR has been protecting the country for years now. Membership would provide it with full recognition, a seat at the NATO table, international credibility and a stronger role in regional and European security.
However, Shea warns that any reduction or repositioning of US forces in Europe would force the continent to take on more responsibility for conventional defense, including Kosovo.
This fall, the US announced a reduction in US rotational forces in Romania. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty asked the US Department of Defense on October 31 and December 16 whether these changes would have any impact on US military positioning in the Western Balkans, but did not receive a response.
Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives Foreign Policy Committee discussed the situation in the Western Balkans, where Republican Representative Keith Self described the region as a “triggers” and stressed that US leadership must have a significant impact on maintaining stability there.
“NATO countries in the Balkans must work together to build military and political defenses. Kosovo is particularly exposed without NATO membership – a process that remains blocked due to the refusal of Spain, Greece, Romania and Slovakia to recognize its independence,” Self said.
Although the geopolitical context has changed significantly, the non-recognizing countries have not moved, but similarly Kosovo has not made any major steps, except from a regular election cycle at the beginning of the year to another premature one now at the end.
And, from a security perspective, this pace can be seen as an example of a belated understanding of strategic urgency. / REL