Kosovo believes it has votes for admission to INTERPOL

Authorities in Pristina hope that the Republic of Kosovo will join the International Police Organisation, known in February this year I NTERPOL.

The INTERPOL Executive Committee has decided that the Kosovo Republic's application for membership in INTERPOL, put it on the agenda of the General Assembly to be held in Beijing, China, from September 26th to September 29, 2017.

Foreign Affairs Minister Emmanuel Demaj's task officer tells Radio Free Europe that on this issue they are lobbiing to all influential countries and that, despite some warnings, according to him, there is no official information that Kosovo's accession vote in INTERPOL could be postponed for another year.

But if the vote is postponed, Demaj says, it will happen on the decision of the INTERPOL Executive Committee, for all countries under way, and not just for Kosovo.

We don't know if it will be postponed. We're lobbiing, we're making an effort to participate and hopefully we have the votes. But we have some unofficial demands that this process, this vote, be postponed by some friendly countries. If the vote is postponed for a year, it is also postponed for the state of Palestine and the Solomon Islands, but not only for Kosovo”, Demaj says.

The outgoing Kosovo government, Demaj points out, hopes Kosovo has secured all the votes needed for membership in INTERPOL.

We've had a meeting with Queen's countries and I believe that by September 15th it will be a result or a mirror of what the possibilities are, according to the support of the friendly countries to join in INTEPOL”, he says.

Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL would greatly advance its capacities in the fight against all crimes, as well as strengthen its international citizenship and subjectivity, says security issue expert Burim Ramadani, from the SPRC Security Policy Research Centre.

According to him, Kosovo's membership in INTEPOL eliminates a large number of obstacles in relation to states that have not yet recognised the independence of the Republic of Kosovo.

The key priority “is to empower the fight against trans-national organised crime and the fight against terror, as in political terms, is an additional element for Kosovo's international subjectivity”, Ramadani told Radio Free Europe.

He estimates that Kosovo institutions have not lobbied enough for membership in this organisation, as, according to him, Kosovo has focused on domestic politics and not on aspects of national interest outside Kosovo.

Despite statements issued by the particular institutions, I personally do not see any serious and meaningful approaches of Kosovo to lobbie membership in INTERPOL”.

“The parties for membership cannot appreciate that they are very good, although the decision to membership in INTEPOL is political, because, professionally speaking, the Kosovo criteria have met as has all other INTERPOL member states”, Ramadani points out.

Kosovo had applied for membership in INTERPOL as well in April 2015, but last year this organisation had suspended Kosovo's application for membership in this international organisation.