Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe/The first step has been successfully completed

2024-03-27 16:48:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe/The first step has been

Kosovo has successfully passed the first step for the membership process in the Council of Europe.

The news was announced by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kreshnik Ahmeti.

The latter has announced that the Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly in KiE was in favor of membership in the first vote.

He states that all proposals to impose new preconditions have been rejected by the majority of Committee members.

This first vote paves the way for the vote at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which will be held in Strasbourg on 15 April.

Full Notice:

Kosovo successfully passes the vote in the Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of KiE.

The opinion of rapporteur Bakoyannis has just been approved in the Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy of the Council of Europe.

This opinion recommends Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe without any additional preconditions. None of the commitments that Kosovo must undertake are required to be fulfilled before membership. Even in point 11 it is clearly stated that the pledge must be addressed after membership.

All the proposals to set new preconditions have been rejected by the majority of the Committee members, which shows that Kosovo should become a member in May of this year and the new preconditions would be unfair.

Moreover, the opinion requires the removal of the footnote from the denomination of Kosovo, which has been used since 2008 in every report and communication on and with Kosovo. Also, it is recommended that Kosovo be invited as a state, according to Article 4 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, and not as a country, according to Article 5.

Today's success paves the way for the vote of opinion in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which will be held in Strasbourg in the week of April 15. After the successful voting there, the opinion will be sent to the Committee of Ministers who must vote for Kosovo's membership in the next ministerial that will be held in May this year.

The text of the opinion and today's success are the results of an unstoppable work of all Kosovo institutions and close coordination with international partners.

Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe will have an extraordinary impact on the promotion and protection of the rights of all the country's communities./ CNA