Kosovo lies one step away from KiE, post-member association

For voting 131 deputies, there were 29, while 11 abstained.

The issue now amounts to the foreign ministers of the Council of Europe, who must ultimately decide whether Kosovo will become the organisation's newest member.

The Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy in the Council of Europe has rejected all amendments that were proposed by the Serbian delegation and some Italian deputies and a Hungarian for the establishment of the Association of Serb-run municipalities to be conditioned for Kosovo membership in the KiE.

In a broader statement after the vote, the Parliamentary Assembly recalls the Government's decision on the Decani Monastery, which it describes as “a major progress” implementing the Constitutional Court's decision, while stressing that the establishment of association would be the key “step” to ensure the protection of the rights of Serbs in Kosovo.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, underlines that Kosovo's membership in the KiE will “address extraordinary challenges and worrying questions”.

Also revealing the contents of the voted text, it is said the Assembly has invited the Committee of Ministers to ensure that Kosovo's membership is “without prejudiced the positions of individual member states regarding Kosovo citizenship”.

“membership would also help Kosovo protect the extraordinary challenges and issues of concern”, the parliamentarians stressed, including the gap between standards and effective implementation, the need to better protect the rights of non-communication communities and promote a favourable climate. To trust, reconciliation, and involvement.

The assembly hailed it as “a major breakthrough” implementing the Constitutional Court's decision in the case of the Decani Monastery, which it said was the “a tangible sign of the government's commitment to act fully in accordance with the rule of the law. Despite political considerations”.

The establishment of an association of Serb majority municipalities would be “an important step” to ensure the protection of the rights of Kosovo Serbs, and “should be included in the upcoming review by the Committee of Ministers for Kosovo's application for membership in the Council of Europe as a commitment after membership”.

Acknowledging the “unprecedented circumstances of application “, given that a number of Council of Europe member states do not recognise Kosovo as a state, the Parliament called for “diplomacy, dialogue and compromise”. The assembly invited the Committee of Ministers to ensure that Kosovo's membership is “without prejudging the positions of individual member states regarding the citizenship of Kosovo”, it is said among other people in the communiqué.

Kosovo state leaders welcomed the Parliamentary Assembly's decision, calling it evidence of the state's commitment to democracy.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti expressed optimism about a positive decision on the Council of Ministers in May. Kurt, in Strasbourg, also discussed the matter of association.

The prime minister has said his government does not want the Basic Agreement with Serbia to turn it into a tool for the Association of Serb majority municipalities. He from Strasbourg has stressed that the issue of Association is within this agreement, not the opposite.

He has indicated that Kosovo Serbs have many rights as minorities that constitute 4% of the population, while asking how more rights might be required when Serbs boycott what they now have.

“I have ten seats reserved for Serbs in the Assembly, the Serbian language is official, out of 38 municipalities ten are majority Serb. Our government policies, with economics, socially, have made efforts and successes to integrate Serbs. We have a Serbian minister. It should be society, government, as a state, constantly mention how much Serb minorities in Kosovo enjoy, which is 4%. We shouldn't just talk about the Association without talking about the basic agreement, and we shouldn't have to talk about Association, not to mention that ten seats in the Republic Assembly are being boycotted. How more rights could be required when current ones” are boycotted, Kurti said.

According to Kurti, Kosovo on Tuesday had massive and deep support, as there were debates that were won by arguments.

“We are optimistic about membership in May, and at the same time we will engage in this because on the other side there is an extraordinary chance, and on the other hand, there is no other occasion in the history of the Council of Europe that the Council of Ministers ignores such support in the KiE Parliamentary Assembly, where the democracy of the Council of Europe is, there were also the discussions that took place, support for the Republic of Kosovo's membership was not only massive, but it was also deep because the debate was fined with arguments, not just a triumphal one with the numbers in the hall, he said.

One of the direct benefits of Kosovo's citizens from eventual membership in the Council of Europe will be access to the European Court for Human Rights [of Human Rights] GEDNJ].

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Kreshnik Ahmeti, weeks ago in an interview for Online Reporter.net, has shown the importance of membership in the organisation.

Kosovo's “Membership in the Council of Europe would be of utmost importance to the citizens of the country. This would open up the possibility for any citizen who, in cases when justice is not served in Kosovo institutions and after they are consumed, will be sent to a disadmissional level, such as the European Court for Human Rights, or as the Strasbourg Court”, Ahmeti said.

The vote preceded a debate that lasted more than two hours. The majority of MPs who received the word supported Kosovo's membership. MPs from France, however, said it would be good for Kosovo to take the first steps towards establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities before the final vote of ministers in May.

The author of the Kosovo report, Dora Bakoyannis, who is Greece's former foreign minister and the sister of the current Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said at the beginning of the debate that during her work, no “was left unabated in preparing the report and said it has been confirmed that, despite some shortcomings, Kosovo is a functional democracy, calling on the Council of Ministers to invite Kosovo to become a member of the Council of Europe.

The issue now amounts to the foreign ministers of the Council of Europe, who must ultimately decide whether Kosovo will become the organisation's newest member.

The next meeting of the Council of Ministers will take place in mid-May.
The Council of Foreign Ministers on the Council of Europe meets once a year, traditionally in May.

But there are voices in diplomatic circles that say Kosovo membership may not be decided at all on the agenda of the ministers' meeting in May.

This also relates to the activity of the QUINT countries, the United States, Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy, which usually support Kosovo but now want to see moves towards establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

The Council of Europe is an international human rights organisation, democracy and rule of law in Europe, headquartered in Strasbourg, France.