Kosovo's doubts about INTERPOL deepened

Officials from Kosovo's outgoing prime minister's office, Ramush Haradinaj, have declined to provide any clarification as to what his position should Kosovo continue its insistence on membership this year in INTERPOL.

They have told Radio Free Europe that the process with Kosovo membership in INTERPOL is leading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But neither Yatlir Zyberaj, outgoing Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli's adviser, contacted by Radio Free Europe, has wanted to talk about what Pacolli's decision is or will be.

However, Kosovo's outgoing deputy foreign affairs minister, Anton Berisha, tells Radio Free Europe that the process towards Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL must be carefully approached, to avoid repeating the same situation as last year, when Kosovo had failed to join this organisation.

We don't have an upgrade right now and we're stuck where we were last year. Decisions concerning membership in the organisation would have to be respected by Serbia, under the Brussels Agreement, due to reconciliation not to be hindered. But Serbia is following its path. On the other hand, any application or any initiative that has international character, we do it together with our partners, the European Union and the United States of America”, Berisha stressed.

Outgoing Deputy Minister Berisha has added that Kosovo will not enter multilateral political processes without co-ordinating with its international partners.

For now, according to him, the issue of Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL lies in the phase of administrative procedures and has not yet been reached in the political process.

But we will not challenge Kosovo, nor bring it into the agendas of states that do not support the independence of our state and do not support the development of our state. Therefore, we will not take any step without our European Union partners and the United States of America. Only in co-ordination with them, we value the situation and the moment in this year, or next year, or whenever it is the most appropriate time”, Berisha said.

In January of this year, Kosovo has again submitted the request to join INTERPOL, and this requirement has been accepted by this organisation, to proceed to join the INTERPOL General Assembly agenda, which will be held this year in Chile. At the same time, Angola will be the reporting country, which will handle Kosovo's application for membership in this organisation. Both countries have not recognised the state of Kosovo.

Political Affairs Analyst Artan Muhhaxhiri tells Radio Free Europe that failure to join INTERPOL last year at the General Assembly of this organisation that was held in Dubai has caused enormous damage to Kosovo's image. As he says, so far there is no information proving that the positions that countries have opposed Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL have changed.

“If there is no substantial progress in Kosovo's position, in relation to INTERPOL member states that would determine the success of the application, then it can't be an insistence on the process. So it's completely irrational, irresponsible that Kosovo enters the dance of great uncertainty, which, in all likelihood, will also result in an international Fiasco”, Muhaxhiri praised.

A day after Kosovo's failure to membership in INTERPOL, last year, the Kosovo government had increased the tax on products of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from 10 percent to 100 percent. This had rushed the reactions of Serbia's authorities, who have refused to continue dialogue with Kosovo without the removal of this tax.

Kosovo's eventual failure for membership in INTERPOL this year, according to analyst Mujariri, would produce even greater negative consequences in all Kosovo-Serbia reports, including dialogue with Serbia and which, therefore, could affect Kosovo's reports with international partners.

“I think that if what happened last year in Dubai is repeated, this will further exacerbate the situation between Kosovo and Serbia, because the latter will, of course, exploit this inefficiency and lack of Kosovo preparedness. Then, the rhetorical struggle between Kosovo and Serbia will take even a leap to add up, blocking the dialogue further and removing the reach of the final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which is the key condition for normalising our” region, Muhaxiri said.

Kosovo's membership efforts in INTERPOL have been under way since 2010. At the time, the Executive Committee of this organisation had not taken into account the request filed by official Pristina. In 2015 and 2016, Kosovo had applied, but had not joined the General Assembly agenda. In 2017, Kosovo has voluntarily withdrawn the application, due to insufficient support.