Even this year Kosovo aims to join the Council of Europe and INTERPOL

The Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue efforts this year for the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in international organisations and mechanisms, such as INTERPOL, the Council of Europe and other important organisations.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Kosovo, Rayhan Vunqi, in a statement handed down to Telegrafi, confirmed they have completed the necessary preparations for applying to the Council of Europe.

“Membership in the Council of Europe remains one of the main priorities of the Republic of Kosovo. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made all necessary preparations for the application, and the outcome of the elections in the KiE for taking further steps in co-ordination with member states is expected.
Once the political decision for application is made we are ready to apply”, Vunqi stressed.

As for Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL (The International Police), Wunjeqi said it remains one of the priorities of the MPJ, but given the sensitivity of the process and the challenges that have been faced last year, she did not prefer to give much detail unless she confirmed that they are working intensively in this direction.

Even from the Commission for Foreign Affairs, Diaspores and Strategic Investments stated that they have committed Kosovo to membership this year in various international organisations.

The government and we as the Commission for Foreign Affairs, Diaspore and Strategic Investment are engaged in this direction so that Kosovo can join different international organisations. These years have been a little difficult for Kosovo to membership because of the conditions that were set. But I believe that this year with the help of friendly countries Kosovo will likely be able to join the organisation”, said the first deputy chairman of this Commission, Time Kadrijaj, for Telegrafi.

On the other hand, opposition MP from the Vetevendosje ranks Albulen Haxhiu voiced pessimistic about Kosovo's membership in any organisation this year.

It is a disaster that Kosovo has a minister of foreign affairs like Behgjet Pacolli, who has transferred all of the ministry's potential to his service to his individual businesses. Such a minister does not represent Kosovo but insults it, and this is not good news and will cost us much in the external aspect. From such a minister, we do not expect Kosovo membership”, the deputy Hadziu decided on Telegrafi.

Haxhiu said Minister Behgjet Pacolli has had to resign after Kosovo's failure to membership in Interpol last year, but, according to her, he has continued with the old avaz and new scandals.

“From such a minister Kosovo will have no progress, but only regras”, she said, among other things.

We stress that the Council of Europe is one of the most important organisations in Europe, and Kosovo is the only country from the region that is not part of it.

As for INTERPOL, the state of Kosovo has launched membership efforts since 2010. Last year on November 20th, Kosovo had failed to become a member of INTERPOL, as it did not receive the necessary majority, out of two-thirds of the votes of the participating countries at the General Assembly of this organisation, which was held in Dubai.

Besides the Council of Europe and INTERPOL, there are also a large number of organisations that Kosovo has not yet joined.