6 minutes agoFinnish and Czech president unanimously: Supporting Kosovo's CoE Membership
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)Czech President Petr Pavel and Finnish Saul Niinsto took advantage of the 4th Summit of the Presidents of the States and Council of Europe Governments in Reykjavik of Iceland to express their support for Kosovo's membership in the institution. Although this summit was dedicated to Ukraine, Pavel in his speech declared that Kosovo should [...]
Even though this summit was dedicated to Ukraine, Pavel in his speech declared that Kosovo must become a member of the Council of Europe as soon as possible.
“While we focus on the situation in Ukraine, we must not forget Georgia, Moldova, as well as other partners facing Russian pressure and intimidation. They can count on our support, including their path towards EU membership. I would also like to use this opportunity to re-focus our full support for Kosovo's goal of becoming a member of the Council of Europe” as soon as possible, Pavel said.
Finnish President Saul Niinsto also said he should not forget the Western Balkans by re-focusing support for advancing Kosovo's membership to the Council of Europe.
While our main attention is rightly from Ukraine, we stress the need for support even for Georgia, Moldova and the Western Balkans. Finland welcomes further steps for advancing Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe. As the multilateral system based on rules is challenged, the Council of Europe deserves our strongest support”, Niinsto said.
Kosovo applied for membership in the Council of Europe on May 12th 2022, while in late April of this more than 2/3 of the member states' votes decided in favour of the conclusion of Kosovo's first instance of membership in the Council of Europe, exceeding the application for membership to the Parliamentary Assembly.
As a next step, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe according to the MPJD will prepare an opinion regarding Kosovo membership. After that, opinion is sent to the Committee of Ministers, which then makes the final decision on membership.
While this summit, which was held in Iceland, is an opportunity to reaffirm common commitment to the core values of the Council of Europe and to refocus its mission in light of new threats to human rights and democracy and further support Ukraine to help achieve justice for victims of Russian aggression.
At this summit, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama, who asked the Council of Europe Assembly to remove the stain on the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK) that was placed with Dick Martyt's report, as his claims on organ trafficking have collapsed.
