Media Freedom - A Challenge In Kosovo’S European Integration Process

Kosovo, like all EU members as well as those aspiring to join the EU, is fighting on different “fronts” aiming to attain EU and international standards. Among these standards, media freedom represents without any doubt one of the most difficult challenges as the country aspires to be democratic and transparent, as well as to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Having this in mind, the Kosovo Government is trying to accelerate the integration process by supporting the idea of free and transparent media as a precondition to EU membership. Such an objective has become an obligatory part of many documents deriving from the Kosovo constitution as well as other plans and strategies like the National Strategy for European Integration “Kosovo 2020”. In Kosovo’s integration process, there are several other obstacles, specifically with the opposition of some EU members to recognize the authority of the Republic of Kosovo, but with no doubt, media freedom is among the basic and fundamental ones. Thus, this paper attempts to present and analyse the approaches that the Kosovo institutions are using to improve the process of having a free, transparent and democratic media as an important component of the integration process and EU membership.