Kosovo
EU draft, per RFE/RL: no progress for Kosovo on fundamentals, Montenegro nears end of accession talks
The European Commission warns Kosovo and Serbia that the lack of progress on normalization carries political and economic costs; the document is expected to be published next week.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 30, 2026, 14:40 · Updated 19:02 · 2 min read
In brief
- Kosovo, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are listed among countries with no progress on the rule of law and other fundamentals.
- For the first time, the draft highlights Kosovo's full alignment with the EU's foreign and security policy.
- Montenegro could complete its accession negotiations by December 2026.
Kosovo, along with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, is listed among the countries that have made no progress in the fundamental areas of the European Union accession process. That is according to the draft of the European Commission's annual communication on enlargement policy, seen by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and expected to be published next week.
The fundamentals include the rule of law, democratic institutions, public administration reform and economic criteria, and they set the overall pace of negotiations.
Influence over courts and normalization
According to the draft, Kosovo faces political and interest-group influence over the courts and the prosecution. As a novelty, the document notes that Kosovo's full alignment with the EU's common foreign and security policy appears for the first time in Chapter 31.
The Commission reiterates that the European path of Serbia and Kosovo is tied to progress in normalizing relations. “Implementation of the Agreement on the path to normalization and its Implementation Annex remains insufficient,” the document says, adding that the lack of progress “has political and economic costs” and risks leaving both sides behind. Serbia is also mentioned among countries at pronounced risk of “state capture.”
Montenegro, leader of the process
By contrast, Montenegro is described as the front-runner of enlargement. According to the assessment, Podgorica has met the closing benchmarks in all chapters and could close negotiations by the end of the year. The Commission praises constitutional changes on the independence of the judicial and prosecutorial councils and the alignment of visa policy with the EU from Oct. 31, 2026.
The draft also says that by September, 193.3 million euros in grants had been disbursed out of the 1.6 billion euros of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, for 90 completed reform steps, and calls for faster implementation.
