Proponents of a final agreement with Serbia, ranging from the President to various pundits, have been ringing the alarm bells on the timing of such a deal. They argue that timewise this is the final train to get a good deal. In their efforts to convince political opponents and the people in Kosovo, the finger is pointed at various political developments taking place in the European Union (EU). To be more precise, public discourse revolves around the rise of far-right parties that presumably are going to shape anew the Union leading to an EU that is going to disregard the issues between Kosovo and Serbia, or that whoever will replace Federica Mogherini as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will not have the dialogue high on the agenda.

Whilst the opposition parties and the Prime Minister have adamantly refused most of the arguments lately brought forward by President Thaci and his followers, they have rarely dwelt into this particular issue. This policy note aims to fill in that gap. Can one rightly argue that this is the best timing to finalize the dialogue with Serbia? How do predictions about the upcoming European Parliament elections line in with such an assumption? To do so, we firstly analyze the current constellation of powers within the different EU institutions and how they might be affected by current predictions, in particular by novelties surrounding this round of elections. Afterwards, two more angles will be scrutinized, how the timing argument relates to ongoing internal political struggles in the two biggest EU member states, Germany and France. Lastly, the policy note will delve into how other influential parties not directly linked to the European Union, such as the US and Russia, play in into this conundrum.