The Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU has pledged to "find a way" to help Kosovo on its path to European integration. However, in a response to Gazeta Express, Denmark did not specifically say whether it will take Kosovo's EU application, which was submitted in December 2022 and has not progressed to any further stages since, more seriously than its predecessors.
Alma Baxhaku
Denmark took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1 at a time when the EU is facing a new international order and growing conflicts. Among all these issues that it will have to deal with, Kosovo's application to join the European Union has also been shelved.
The Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU, in a response to Gazeta Express, said that the Danish Presidency will push forward the enlargement process for countries aspiring to join the Union and for the "case of Kosovo" gave a pledge that it will be committed to "finding" a way out since, unlike other countries in the region, Kosovo has the problem of non-recognition of its citizenship by five member states.
"The Danish Presidency of the EU will work closely with the Commission and the Member States to advance the enlargement process based on merit and support for the necessary reforms and political steps in the aspiring countries. In the case of Kosovo, the Danish Presidency will work to find ways forward, which can contribute to Kosovo's closer integration with the EU."
The President of the EU Council, Antonio Costa, himself expressed optimism that Denmark would help the region.
"We can count on the Danish Presidency to move forward with negotiations with Ukraine, and also with Moldova and the six Western Balkan countries," Costa said at the ceremony for Denmark to take over the presidency.
Kosovo's application submitted in mid-December 2022 has not even managed to pass the first phase to be reviewed by the EU Council and then sent for an opinion to the European Commission.
In the six-month rotation, since 2022, the Presidency of the Council of the EU has been led by member states that were even more supportive of Kosovo, but none of them submitted an application to take it further.
Kosovo was in a hurry to submit its application in 2020, just half a month before the Czech Republic ended its presidency, claiming that as a friendly country it would take steps for the formal and basic procedures usually taken for such applications. However, this did not happen.
Kosovo's application was submitted in Prague by Prime Minister Albin Kurti at the Czech Government building to the country's chief diplomat.
Although the problems in handling this application were already known, Kurti had minimized them at the time, expressing optimism that the non-recognizing five would not cause obstacles to Kosovo's clear aspirations to become a member of the EU.
When asked about the potential obstacle posed by the five EU states that do not recognize Kosovo – Romania, Greece, Spain, Slovakia and Cyprus – Kurti said that when Kosovo signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the bloc in 2015, the five states agreed.
"I do not believe that the minority of EU member states that still do not recognize our independence will be against our unification with the European family," Kurti said at the time, as REL reported.
A day earlier, Kosovo's leaders at the time, President Osmani, Speaker Konjufca, and Prime Minister Kurti, had considered this event historic.
During this period, the EU Presidency was held by Sweden after the Czech Republic – from January to June 2023, followed by Spain – from July to December 2023, which had not even commented on this application. Spain was followed by Belgium – from January to June 2024, followed by Hungary – from July to December 2024, and before Denmark was Poland – from January to June 2025.
Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkans that does not have the status of a candidate country for EU membership.
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