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Council of Europe: Kosovo remains off the agenda of the meeting

2024-05-17 14:28:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Council of Europe: Kosovo remains off the agenda of the meeting

Illustrative photo

The Foreign Ministers of the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe are meeting today in Strasbourg in the annual session on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of this organization, but the issue of Kosovo's admission to this mechanism is not on the agenda. The Government of Kosovo did not send for consideration to the Constitutional Court a draft EU statute for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority, which was recently set as a condition for Kosovo's membership in this organization.

Dispute between the Presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

A letter of commitment that Kosovo sent to the Council of Europe, which states that Kosovo will draw up its own draft statute for the Association by the end of May, did not find support from international mechanisms, nor from the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, who said that the letter sent to the Council of Europe by the Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, was not coordinated with him.

In Gërvalla's letter, it is stated, among other things, that "the draft statute inspired by 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".

The adviser to the president, Bekim Kupina, says that the president "does not support this letter". "President Osmani only supports positions and actions previously consulted, coordinated and agreed with the institution of the Presidency. This letter is not like that".

Letter from the European leaders

Meanwhile, on May 15, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti received a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who have expressed support for the EU's proposal for the Association, and not only for Prishtina's commitments, without concrete steps. "First, the draft statute presented by the EU's special representative for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, is not just a "gentleman's proposal". It is a solid model, carefully designed with the help of European lawyers and experts, based on existing best practices in Europe. It fully takes into account all your red lines as well as the constitutional and legal framework of Kosovo. As such he enjoys our full support. Let's emphasize once again that we do not want a dysfunctional Kosovo, the Association is in no way comparable to the Republika Srpska", says the letter of the three European leaders. In the letter of Macron, Scholz and Meloni, it is clearly underlined that "there is a real risk that without decisive progress for the Association, Kosovo's application to the Council of Europe will not receive sufficient support from the member states".

The EU cannot quickly evaluate Kosovo's proposal

The European Union, meanwhile, said late Thursday that it is impossible to evaluate any proposal for a draft statute for the Kosovo Government Association as long as it is not aware of its content. The spokesperson of the EU, Peter Stano, said that such a draft should also be discussed with Serbia and with the EU as mediator of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. "The content of a statute, which the Government of Kosovo has warned to draft, is unknown and has not been discussed either with Serbia or with the mediator of the Prishtina-Belgrade dialogue. Therefore, it is impossible to assess its compatibility with the agreements of 2013 and 2015 at this stage", said Peter Stano.

Kosovo has applied for membership in the Council of Europe for more than a year. On April 16, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe supported the report of Dora Bakoyannis, which recommends Kosovo's membership in this organization. According to this report, "Kosovo has fulfilled all the conditions for membership and has considered the issue of the formation of the Association as an internal topic of Kosovo". and Serbia reached an agreement on the Association as early as 2013. In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo considered that the agreement is not in full harmony with the Constitution of Kosovo