Scepticism for Kosovo membership in INTERPOL

Also unclear remains whether Kosovo institutions will decide to approach the final battle to enter the membership vote or not because of current international, but also local circumstances.

Kosovo Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kosovo's resignation Anton Berisha tells Radio Free Europe that Kosovo institutions are interested in membership in INTERPOL and, therefore, technical and administrative procedures have continued and will continue until that membership becomes a reality.

In terms of concrete application, he sees this as an issue not only technical, though it should be, but also as diplomatic and political.

So, we'll measure this. We will not challenge Kosovo, without carefully measuring it in relation to our international friends, namely the European Union, because Brussels agreements predict Serbia will not prevent Kosovo's membership in various organisations. Meanwhile, we are not in a phase when European institutions are created and we have a kind of vacuum. We also have a kind of vacuum now in Kosovo, because we are government in resignation. So we will walk twice as carefully, in order to have a more real mirror, before going to final stage”, Berisha stressed.

Approximate thoughts also include Professor of International Law at Pristina University Africa Hoti.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe, he has stressed that internal political current in Kosovo, but also international political currents, add scepticism to Kosovo's road to INTERPOL.

According to him, with a government in resignation and therefore institutions that cannot be fully committed, Kosovo's activity to lobby for membership in INTERPOL cannot be shared.

For more, according to him, the international political context should be taken into account, as well as the fact that Kosovo will be the second official effort for membership in this organisation.

When this is added to the fact that in the first place we have failed, even counting on negative votes from countries that have accepted Kosovo, I think we have to work extremely hard to get consent, not only from those countries that have recognised Kosovo, but also from those countries that have not recognised it and that have a slightly more displaced position towards Kosovo. Membership should be introduced as a technical aspect, as a Kosovo's readiness to fight organised crime and corruption, and in such circumstances alone we should proceed with its demand and postponement for voting at the INTERPOL general conference”, Hoti said.

In July of this year, the prime minister in his resignation, Ramush Haradinaj, stressed that he took into account that this year's INERPOL General Assembly is held in Chile, a country that has not recognised Kosovo, then it remains “to consider whether to enter the voting agenda or not”.

However, deputy minister in the resignation, Berisha, says he does not want to prejudge whether Kosovo will withdraw or not from entering the vote.

These parameters must be taken into account, so that we do not challenge Kosovo unnecessaryly. We must be careful, not only for membership, but also for preserving state authority”, Berisha said.

Added caution regarding Kosovo's approach to membership in INTERPOL, suggests Professor Hoti.

Uncounted efforts and eventual failure would be fatal for Kosovo. This, primarily for its goal of joining international organisations and the second, for what is already being recognised as the final general agreement with Serbia, which, according to my information, is now and how long the foreign experts are working”, Hoti stressed.

On the other hand, Serbia's authorities have continued and are continuing to lobby against Kosovo's membership in INTERPOL. Days earlier, Serbian Government Minister of Internal Affairs Nebojsa Stefanovic has estimated that since the INTERPOL General Assembly last year in Dubai, where Kosovo's demand to join this organisation has been rejected, there has been no development that would bring change to that decision.

On November 20th, 2018, Kosovo had failed to membership in INTERPOL, as it did not receive the necessary majority of the two-thirds of the votes of the countries participating in the General Assembly of this organisation, held in Dubai.