\n<\/p>\n
For decades, the Lumbardhi cinema in Kosovo \u2013 Europe\u2019s newest country \u2013 has given locals in the city of Prizren a window on the outside world. It has screened movies from Japan, China and the United States and hosted international artists for its annual documentary film festival.<\/p>\n
But the venue has been dogged by financial problems and it was relying on a 1.5 million euro grant from the neighboring European Union for renovations to its heating and drainage systems, according to its executive director, Ares Shporta.<\/p>\n
Then on October 7, Shporta received an email from EU officials saying the grant had been cancelled due to \u201congoing measures imposed by the European Union on the government of Kosovo\u201d \u2013 a reference to cuts to EU funding enacted in 2023 for what the bloc said was Prime Minister Albin Kurti\u2019s role in stoking ethnic tensions in northern Kosovo, which has a Serb majority.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shook the trust of the community in us, but also in the EU, which claims to be in support of cultural diversity,\u201d said Shporta in the lobby of the Lumbardhi, where a noisy space heater kept a smattering of patrons warm.<\/p>\n
While the EU has not released a list of affected programs, two sources, including a senior diplomat, told Reuters more than a dozen projects totaling at least \u20ac150 million have stalled following the EU curbs. These include a \u20ac70-million sewage treatment plant and a concert hall renovation. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly.<\/p>\n
Pristina has downplayed the measures, but the fate of Lumbardhi and other projects identified by Reuters shows the impact on one of Europe\u2019s poorest countries.<\/p>\n
The issue has resurfaced as Kosovo \u2013 which is majority ethnic Albanian but home to some 100,000 ethnic Serbs \u2013 prepares for elections on Feb. 9. And it could weigh on Kurti\u2019s chances of re-election, three analysts said.<\/p>\n
Two private polls shared with Reuters showed Kurti\u2019s Vetevendosje party and coalition partners with around 40% of the vote \u2013 down from the 50.2% received in 2021. Some Kosovans are concerned at their country\u2019s isolation, according to political analyst Agon Maliqi.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile most voters may be pleased that Kosovo has more control over the north, many might not be convinced that this is sustainable without international support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some EU states want to lift the measures because they have not altered Kurti\u2019s policies and have hurt ordinary citizens, the senior diplomat and another official with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters. But there is opposition from countries including Serbia-friendly France and Hungary.<\/p>\n
The diplomat said the sanctions unfairly targeted Kosovo and not its northern neighbor Serbia, which has also played a role in inflaming tensions. But they added that there was no mechanism for rolling back the restrictions, despite their lack of efficacy.<\/p>\n
An EU spokesperson described the measures as \u201ctemporary and reversible\u201d but did not say which projects have been hit. They said that the EU would lift the sanctions if Kosovo de-escalated tensions in the north.<\/p>\n
\u201cActions by the Kosovo Government \u2026 have so far not been conducive to this goal,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Kosovo gained its independence from Serbia in 2008 with backing from the United States, which included a 1999 bombing campaign against Serbian forces.<\/p>\n
The face of former US President Bill Clinton smiling from a billboard above a boulevard in central Pristina. Some Kosovan political parties still fly a US flag in their headquarters.<\/p>\n
That alliance had been strained under Kurti, who has promised but failed to repair relations with Serbia, which would open up a path to joining the EU.<\/p>\n
The 50,000 Serbs who live in north Kosovo do not recognize Pristina\u2019s institutions. Most see Belgrade as their capital and rely on it for wages, pensions and healthcare.<\/p>\n
The EU has urged Pristina to establish an association of Serb municipalities to allow greater self-governance for Serbs. Fearing secession, Kurti has rejected the proposal and instead sought to erode Serbs\u2019 autonomy in the north.<\/p>\n
The prime minister defends his policy, saying he has reduced crime, created jobs, promoted peace and pushed back against a more powerful aggressor in Serbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not done this against the Serbs: we have done it against Serbia because it is against Kosovo and our nation,\u201d Kurti said in a campaign speech last month.<\/p>\n
However, his move to install ethnic Albanian mayors in Serb majority areas, and to force ethnic Serbs to use Kosovan number plates on their cars, triggered the worst violence in a decade in 2023.<\/p>\n
Despite the EU sanctions, Kurti persisted. His government outlawed the use of the Serbian dinar, closed Serb-run post offices and choked trade between the countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cKosovo is isolated and penalized by the international community,\u201d said Vlora Citaku from the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, who served as Kosovan ambassador to the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery major success that we have achieved in the last two decades \u2013 liberation, independence \u2013 has been achieved because we worked closely with allies.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is unclear how the new US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration will react. But Richard Grenell, Trump\u2019s presidential envoy for special missions, gave a hint on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth Republicans and Democrats have criticized Kurti consistently for taking unilateral actions that destabilize the region,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cThe international community is united against Kurti.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Kurti, a leftist and Albanian nationalist, has overseen some gains since coming to power in 2021. Unemployment has shrunk from 30% to around 10%, the minimum wage is up and last year the economy grew faster than the Western Balkans average.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, northern Kosovo feels as divided as ever. Education, healthcare, shops and cafes are segregated. Receipts from Serbian stores still give prices in dinar, not euros. Communities live apart \u2013 even the style of houses differ between the two groups.<\/p>\n
Because Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo, it still pays salaries and pensions to Serbs there. But Serbs must return to Serbia to receive them since Kurti closed Serb-run post offices over the past year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the closure of some border crossings to Serbian goods has choked trade, forcing others to cross the frontier to buy medicines prescribed by Serb-run hospitals.<\/p>\n
Serb pensioner Dragoljub Ivic, 65, who lives in Gracanica, a Serb-run municipality near Pristina, has to go back to Serbia every month to collect his \u20ac500 pension. The trip alone costs \u20ac50, he said \u2013 10% of his monthly allowance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Kosovo, the people are paying for the politics,\u201d said Ivic, who saves money by keeping to one room in his modest house, which he heats by opening the door of his wood-fired oven.<\/p>\n
He says tensions are far worse now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to force the Serbs from Kosovo.\u201d<\/p>\n
People of all ethnicities are feeling the hit from the EU sanctions.<\/p>\n
The EU had pledged \u20ac70 million to build the first sewage treatment plant to clean Pristina\u2019s trash-clogged canal system. That plan is stalled, said Pristina deputy mayor, Alban Zogaj.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter decades we were finally resolving the issue of treating sewage water which is polluting the river of Sitnica, one of the most polluted rivers in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raw sewage is released into the canals. Their banks are lined with abandoned kitchenware, boxes and bottles. When it rains and the water rises, overhanging trees become festooned with sheets of hanging plastic.<\/p>\n
Sewage flows near the house of local resident Sanije Thaci, who cannot open her windows because of the smell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no words to describe what we are going through,\u201d said Thaci, who stood next to one canal\u2019s rushing grey stream.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can see, there is no solution to be seen.\u201d [Reuters]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n