06-08-2025
Can Kosovo police itself – and keep the EU dream alive?
PRISTINA – Mounting allegations of police abuse in Kosovo are raising uncomfortable questions for the European Union, the main funder and backer of the country's police force.
In recent weeks, more than 10 police officers have been suspended in connection with several cases, including the death of 27-year-old Agon Zejnullahu in Lipljan, near Pristina. Five officers are now facing manslaughter charges.
Kosovo's police force consists of around 10,000 uniformed and civilian staff. Of these, over 15% are women, and around 10% belong to non-Albanian ethnic communities – the rest are ethnic Albanians.
Over the past five years, the EU has invested €3 million in aid and €1.5 million in training for Kosovo's police, alongside broader support via its EULEX rule of law mission. Speaking to Euractiv, one senior EU official described police violence in Kosovo as 'endemic'.
According to the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo (PIK), the number of complaints has increased by more than 20% in three years, mostly from the ethnic Albanian majority in Pristina, where police presence is strongest. Collapsing public trust
Public trust in Kosovo's police is collapsing, particularly among the ethnic Serb population. A 2021 survey revealed that 77% trust of ethnic Albanians trusted the police, compared to just 14% of Serbs.
The tipping point came in November 2022, when over 600 ethnic Serb officers resigned en masse. This followed the government's refusal to implement the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities (ASM), part of a 2015 EU-brokered agreement intended to grant Serbs limited autonomy. Pristina argues the ASM would give Serbia too much influence.
The mass resignation left a major security vacuum in the Serb-majority north – and instead of replacing the officers with new Serb recruits, which officials claim current legislation blocks, the government responded by deploying mostly ethnic Albanian officers to fill the gap.
That move further inflamed tensions. A 2024 study found that just 1% of Serbs supported the increased police presence, while 35% said it made them feel less safe, and 57% were unsure about their sense of security. In contrast, 93% of ethnic Albanians backed the decision, and 85% said it made them feel more secure.
Those Serb officers were never replaced, violating Kosovo's constitutional obligation to ensure ethnic representation in public institutions. Despite EU pressure to find a workaround, officials claim current legislation prevents rehiring those who resigned.
To plug the gap, the government accelerated recruitment: police training was shortened from six months to just three, making it the shortest compared to other the Balkan countries. Most new recruits were ethnic Albanians with no knowledge of Serbian. Some even came from militarised units. Civil society groups and international observers quickly sounded the alarm, especially as reports emerged of officers wearing ethnic or nationalist symbols while on duty, which is in breach of Kosovo's constitution.
In June 2023, the EU froze financial support and cut high-level contacts, citing the impasse over the ASM and the use of excessive force in the north.
A system under strain
Whether the Zejnullahu case results in convictions or not, the broader consequences of rushed training are already apparent, said Mentor Vrajolli, director of the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies. Now, t he problems extend far beyond the country's north, he added.
Miodrag Miličević, director of Serb community NGO Aktiv, said he was personally assaulted by Kosovo police near the Serbian border in 2022. He also brought a case against the PIK, criticising its lack of diversity given that it employs only three ethnic Serbs and two Bosniaks out of a staff of 82. His case is still under re-investigation.
The Kosovo police acknowledged the shortcomings and told Euractiv in an email that basic training will now be extended to six months in the classroom and one year in the field.
But issues remain. In 2023, the US donated over 500 body cameras in an attempt to curb abuse . Yet PIK reports show that only 10% of the border and traffic officers who were given the cameras actually used them. Body cams were introduced in specialised patrols when allegations surfaced of targeted harassment against ethnic Serb women in the north.
Police blamed privacy rules, claiming that the Supreme Court and the Data Protection Agency had restricted camera usage. Both institutions denied this, stating that they had never been consulted beyond the context of border enforcement.
What about the EU?
The European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU's diplomatic service, did not respond to repeated requests regarding the impact of the imposed measures against Kosovo on support for the police.
However, Kosovo's ongoing police actions continue to exacerbate tensions between the EU and Kosovo, which are affecting immediate and future support. These tensions have also raised questions about whether Kosovo's EU membership application will ever be taken seriously.
Although Kosovo formally applied to join the EU in 2022, but recent events have prompted some officials in Brussels to question Kosovo's readiness to uphold the rule of law and protect minority rights – two core accession criteria.
(cs, de)
