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Gërvalla, letter to KiE: We are preparing the draft statute for the Association

2024-05-16 13:07:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Gërvalla, letter to KiE: We are preparing the draft statute for the

Donika Gërvalla

The Government of Kosovo said that it is preparing a draft statute of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, in an effort of the last few hours to ensure membership in the Council of Europe, a process conditional on taking steps towards the establishment of this mechanism.

The Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, wrote on social networks that she has sent a letter to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which "contains the commitment that the government of the Republic of Kosovo will prepare a draft for the creation of a mechanism for self-management, coordination and cooperation of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, which fulfills the inherited international obligations of Kosovo, meets the needs of the citizens of the Serbian community of the Republic of Kosovo, but at the same time respects the Constitution in its entirety and in every detail and all the laws of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as the principles of the Council of Europe".

The letter states, among other things, that the draft statute inspired on the basis of a proposal drawn up by the German "Friedrich-Ebert" Foundation in January 2023, will be sent for interpretation to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo by the end of the month May.

Minister Gërvalla wrote that "after today's concretization of our commitment to take an important and tangible step in fulfilling our commitments, we ask and expect the Council of Europe to fulfill its part of the obligation and invite Kosovo to joined the Council of Europe without delay, as the country that has not only been given the most conditions for membership in this organization, but which has fulfilled all these conditions".

In April, Kosovo received the green light from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to join this mechanism. However, its inclusion in the agenda of the meeting of the Council of Ministers held today and tomorrow was impossible, since Kosovo refused to take steps towards the establishment of the Association.

Although the report approved by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe states that the establishment of the Association should be a "post-accession commitment" for Kosovo, the "QUINT" countries, as the main five Western countries are known, consisting of the United States, France , Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, have seen the issue of this membership as an opportunity to exert pressure on the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti regarding this issue.

In October last year, European and American diplomats submitted to Kosovo and Serbia a draft Association statute. The leaders of both countries said "yes" in principle to the document, but things have not moved.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said last week that his government does not accept the conditionality with the establishment of the Association, calling such conditionality "absurd". /VOA