First test for Kosovo membership in Council of Europe today between 14 and 30 in Paris

Today after noon on Paris The assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Policy and Democracy Committee will begin, where Greek rapporteur Dora Bakoyannis will present her draft opinion regarding Kosovo's application for membership. In this draft, Bakoyannis argues for Kosovo's membership in the Paneuvropian organisation.

Prior to this Paris meeting, President Vjosa Osmani has spoken on the subject in Pristina, who said she hopes the report will be approved and the General Assembly will then recommend membership.

Osmani said that the issue of establishing association as a condition even key as mentioned, will not be in this phase, but spoken of as who the membership post was.

“Paragraph 11 of the report makes it clear that when it comes to Association it is spoken of as one of the obligations of the post membership, thus not talking about this phase of establishing association”, Osmani said today in a media statement.

She said the pledge to establish it is not the March pledge that was given in her letter signed by Prime Minister Kurti and Chief Prime Minister Konjufca.

The “not to forget that full commitment was given to its establishment in 2013 through ratification, but this has been repeated in the last, basic agreement of February 27, 2023. So, it's the dedication of March 2024, but the basic 2023 agreement that was accepted by the Kosovo delegation and, as you all know, included the obligation to establish the association”.

But, President Osmani says the letter has made clear that Kosovo's duties to do must be done in accordance with its Constitution and laws.

“What has been important and which has been my request in the letter to Bakoyanis is to include a part where any obligation of the Republic of Kosovo is implemented in accordance with constitutional law, the laws of the Republic of Kosovo, with the Constitutional Constitutional constitution and judgments. That's our range, step away from it”, she said.

Kosovo Chief Diplomat Donika Grovall from New York last night was declared. She has said that if there are enough quorum, or deputies, the reporting report Dora Bakoyannis will be approved. The quorum issue has been raised due to the possibility that MPs would not travel to Paris because of the Easter holiday.

In conclusions drawn up by the Greek rapporteur for Association, the Assembly reportedly expects progress until its finalisation.

The “Assemble should also be expected by Kosovo authorities to make considerable and tangible progress in terms of the Association of Serb majority municipalities, with the aim of establishing it as soon as”.

In the meantime, for expropriations in the North that was one of the other two conditions mentioned for membership, they are said to have to be done in the strictest “respect of the law”. It also mentions the Ahtisaari plan.

Moreover, the Assembly should ask the Kosovo authorities for expropriations to be carried out in stricter respect of the law and that any future legislation in this area be fully in line with the Ahtisaari Plan, including the protection of the properties of the Serbian Orthodox Church”, is said in the draft-raport contexts that Bakoyannis wrote.

Bakoyannis at today's meeting will also inform MPs of the pledges made by the three heads of Kosovo institutions in a letter these started it.

Kosovo Assembly deputies Saranda Bogujevci, Arben Gashi, Besnik Tahiri and Ariana Musliu-Sashi and Ennis Kervan will also be present in Paris today.

Below, the Bakoyannis draft opinion with the conclusions:

70. Progress made by Kosovo in the fields of democracy, human rights and rule of law must be recognised. Its legal system is widely in line with Council of Europe standards, and membership in the organisation would help Kosovo overcome the gap between law and its implementation by providing greater supervision and influence of the Council of Europe on domestic developments.

Above all, it would give access to the European Court of Human Rights to all those under Kosovo jurisdiction regardless of their nationality or community, thus ensuring that their rights are protected by the highest European judicial institution. Membership in the Council of Europe would also represent a historic moment in Kosovo's further European integration process.

71. Kosovo's aspirations for membership in the Council of Europe must receive a positive response. Kosovo's welcoming into the Council of Europe Bay, however, is not the end, but the beginning of a process. I hope that, in the power of the climate of trust that has been created over many years of co-operation and strengthened through our dialogue in the context of application for membership, Kosovo will take advantage of the possibility of membership to consolidate its democratic democracy and culture, to gain the trust and loyalty of all communities, and to become a stability agent in the region.

72. In the ongoing dialogue between the Council of Europe and Kosovo, some issues differ on their importance. For one thing, by welcoming the delayed implementation, by the current government, of the Kosovo Constitutional Court's act in the case of the Decani Monastery, the Assembly should continue to follow this issue and recommend that the Committee of Ministers should do the same.

73. The assembly must also expect from Kosovo authorities considerable and tangible progress in terms of the Association of Serb majority municipalities, with the goal of establishing it as soon as possible.

74. Moreover, the Assembly should ask Kosovo authorities to conduct the expropriations in stricter law enforcement and that any future legislation in this area be fully in line with the Ahtisaari Plan, including the protection of properties of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

75. In a letter sent to me from March 3rd 2024, Prime Minister Albin Kurti vows that Kosovo will sign and ratify a series of Council of Europe treaties during and after membership. These commitments are reflected in the draft Opinion attached to this memorandum.

76. Also, with a letter dated 22 March and signed by the prime minister, president and Kosovo Assembly Speaker, authorities have made a series of commitments, including:

• Taking all measures to escalate tensions in northern Kosovo and refrain from unilateral decisions that could lead to further deterioration of the security situation;

• The judiciary and prosecution in northern Kosovo; taking urgent measures to promote reintegration of Kosovo Serbs to police forces;

• The content of the use of special police in northern Kosovo for ordinary police tasks to ensure that they are deployed only in the event of need and to boost co-operation with KFOR and EULEX;

• ensure effective implementation of the legal framework for protection of national minorities; sharing sufficient resources for effective implementation of language-use legislation;

• promoting non-most language learning in schools;

• Increasing measures to support socioeconomic integration and political participation of people belonging to non-communist communities;