Policy Memo: Why is Kosovo Still Outside Europol’s Operational framework

The current cooperation between Kosovo Police and Europol is legally based in a Working Arrangement signed in July 2020. The Working Arrangement establishes a national contact point within Kosovo institutions for exchanges with Europol, requires the capacity for information exchange on a 24-hour basis, and foresees that liaison officers may be seconded, with their detailed modalities governed by a separate instrument. It also anticipates the establishment of a secure communication line to be regulated via a Memorandum of Understanding.

However, the Working Arrangement also includes some limitations, such as lack of legal basis for the transfer of personal data by Europol to Kosovo law enforcement authorities. That is stated explicitly in its preambular context and again as a dedicated clause on personal data. In other words, what exists today is a framework for structured cooperation, but it stops short of the most operationally consequential feature that other partners often seek, such as systematic, legally stable personal-data exchange for serious and organized crime investigations.

The European Commission’s own reporting on Kosovo confirms that operational cooperation has deepened on the “tools” side (liaison officer deployment; SIENA usage), while the legal basis remains the Working Arrangement model rather than an Operational Agreement that other Western Balkan countries have. Kosovo’s 2023 report by the European Commission states that SIENA is operational and that cooperation improved with the deployment of a liaison officer at Europol HQ in The Hague. The 2023 report is direct on the structural gap noting that all Western Balkan countries have ratified operational agreements with Europol, except Kosovo, for which a working arrangement is in place.