Government signals for transition of property to Decani Monastery, Germany's Embassy seeks to be carried out soon

The advance of Kosovo's membership file in the Council of Europe depends greatly on the epilogue that will take over the issue of implementing the Constitutional Court's decision on property disputes between the Decani Community and the Monastery. So have they confirmed in an answer from the German Embassy in Pristina.

Germany's Embassy spokesman in Pristina, Christian Bottcher, has said that quick implementation of the Constitutional Act through any kind of order or institution is vital not only for Kosovo's interest in the application for membership in the Council of Europe but also for the integrity of the Constitutional Court.

Bottcher has said that implementing the Constitutional Court's decision on property disputes between the Decani municipality and the Decani Monastery could only be a difficult presumption for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe.

“Therefore, quick implementation of the trial through any kind of order or institution is imperative not only in Kosovo's interest in its application for membership, but also in terms of the integrity of its constitutional court. This implementation can only be a difficult precondition for Kosovo membership”, Bottcher has said

He has recalled that Germany and other international partners in Kosovo have repeatedly demanded implementation of the Constitutional Court's decisions.

“This requirement for respecting the Kosovo Constitution itself by implementing the Constitutional Court's decisions has repeatedly been raised by Germany and many other international friends and partners”, he has said.

German Embassy spokesman also mentioned the report by Council of Europe lawyers who have qualified it as a “clear violation of rule of law”, not to implement the Constitutional Court of Property decision, and where they have requested implementation without delay.

“The failure to implement the Constitutional Court's decision in the case of Decani “is a clear violation of the rule of law”, as reported in the report of prominent lawyers for Kosovo's application for membership in the Council of Europe, dated 27 November 2023. . In the closing paragraphs of the report in question, the implementation of the verdict “without further delays” is listed as the first point for improving the rule of law situation in Kosovo”, Christian Bottcher told Gazette Express.

The Express newspaper has learned from its sources that the Government of Kosovo in charge of Kurti has already accepted implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision, thus bearing responsibility to local authorities in Decani.

The head of the Decani municipality, Bashkim Ramosaj, in a brief response to Gazeta Express days ago on the issue, has said his positions are familiar.

So far at both the central and local level there has been no will to implement the Constitutional System's decision to register the Decani Monastery 24 hectares of land and forest, since they consider this land belongs to the social companies “Apico” and “iliria” and that they were never of the monastery.