Kosovo Citizenship Law: EU Says Guilt Isn't Collective

The European Union has weighed in for the first time on the dispute over Article 31 of Kosovo’s Citizenship Law, telling the outlet KoSSev that responsibility for any criminal activity, including war crimes, is individual, and that attempts to turn that responsibility into a collective one damage interethnic relations. Brussels’ response came on September 5, after days of debate in which lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo linked the disputed provision almost exclusively to Serbs.

Article 31 applies to citizens of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who were permanent residents of Kosovo on January 1, 1998, as well as to their direct descendants, regardless of where they live today or what other citizenship they hold. The text of the provision contains no ethnic criterion.

What the opposition says

Democratic Party of Kosovo lawmaker Ganimete Musliu said “Article 31 is harmful to Kosovo” and that the Assembly, not yet constituted, should review the law as a matter of urgency. “If there is only one reason why the Kosovo Assembly should be constituted as soon as possible, this law should be the main one,” Musliu said, adding that everyone who obtained citizenship under it since April 2026 should either go through the procedure again or have their status revoked.

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo lawmaker Time Kadrijaj went further, claiming the provision opens citizenship to people who committed murders, rapes and massacres during the war. “They actually smuggled this law through,” Kadrijaj said, adding that the opposition was outside the assembly hall at the moment of the vote.

Neither lawmaker offered any figures on how many citizenship applications filed on this basis have been approved so far, or on the ethnic makeup of the applicants.

The ruling Self-Determination Movement (Vetevendosje) offers a different reading. First Deputy Interior Minister Enver Dugoli said the law is primarily meant to make it easier for compatriots and members of the Albanian community from the Presevo Valley to obtain citizenship, and that the disputed provision already existed in the earlier law, one the opposition itself had passed. Its constitutional basis, he noted, has existed since 2008 and was moved from the Constitution’s transitional provisions into its core provisions in 2012. “We are very much ready to have that provision removed,” Dugoli said, but only once the opposition secures a constitutional majority that includes the Serb List.

Brussels responds

KoSSev asked the European Union to assess the language used in the debate, which collectively links Serbs and their descendants to security threats and war crimes. Brussels did not comment on the individual statements, but did offer a response of principle:

While we do not comment on comments, we would like to recall that responsibility for any criminal activity, including war crimes, is individual. Attempts to invoke collective responsibility damage interethnic relations.

Asked whether institutions must apply the citizenship requirement individually and without discrimination on ethnic grounds, the answer was brief: “The principle of equality before the law is well established in Kosovo’s legal framework and should be applied at all times.”

The European Union also declined to address Enver Dugoli’s suggestion that the constitutional provision could be removed:

Again, we do not comment on comments. Kosovo’s Constitution, including its provisions on non-majority communities, guarantees equality before the law and reflects Kosovo’s commitment to preserving a democratic, multiethnic society.

Asked whether it has raised, or intends to raise, the citizenship issue with Kosovo’s institutions, the EU pointed to the broader accession process, in which it occasionally flags provisions that might conflict with EU law. In this case, it said, no such concern exists: “The Citizenship Law has not raised such questions.”

A second message in the same week

The European Union’s response is more direct than the one KoSSev received two days earlier, on September 2, from the German Embassy. Berlin said then that the Constitution defines Kosovo as a multiethnic society, that it expects all actors to respect that principle, and that Germany will pay particular attention to the rights of ethnic communities guaranteed by the Constitution, without addressing the possibility of removing the disputed provision.

The Kosovo Assembly passed the Citizenship Law on April 23, 2026, in a second reading, with 69 votes in favor and two against, and it took effect a month later, on May 22. Whether the dispute over Article 31 ends in a constitutional amendment depends on something that does not currently exist: a constituted Kosovo Assembly, and a majority that, according to Dugoli, would have to include the Serb List.