Opposition to the Baconannis report, Hehir: That shows Vuciqi not interested in the welfare of Kosovo Serbs

Kosovo has taken a major step towards membership in the Council of Europe, as the Council of Europe's Committee for Policy and Democracy has adopted the Kosovo Rapporteur's report, Dora Bakoyannis, which recommends that Kosovo has met the conditions for becoming a full member of the Council of Europe.

With Kosovo's eventual membership in the Council of Europe, citizens will have access to the European Court for Human Rights.

And despite the fact that all Kosovo citizens would indiscriminately benefit from the Council of Europe, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, is rejecting Kosovo's membership in this organisation.

So Professor of Westminster University Aida Hehir says that with these actions Vucinq is showing that he does not care about the Serb community living in Kosovo.

If Kosovo is accepted in the KiE, it will benefit Kosovo's minority communities to the extent that they will be able to engage with the KiE mechanisms for protection and promotion of minority rights. The fact that Vucic strongly opposes Kosovo membership highlights the fact that he is not interested in improving the welfare of Kosovo Serbs. Rejecting Kosovo's membership, Vuciq is discovering that he sees Kosovo Serbs in a purely instrumental manner. Vucinac, like all Serbian nationalists who have appeared before him, seeks to use Kosovo Serbs as a means to gather support for himself and his nationalist district”, Hehir says.

But researcher from the new Social Initiative Aleksandar Sljuka, operating in Northern Mitrovica, says Serbs in Kosovo are not very enthusiastic with Kosovo's eventual membership in the Council of Europe.

The decision for the Decani Monastery was assessed as a very important step to membership in the Council of Europe, but for the Serb community it was simply implementation of a Constitutional Court decision that had to be made long ago. There are several other conditions reportedly, but I think Kosovo will become a member of the Council of Europe. However, this does not meet the demands of the Serb community in Kosovo, as we know only the formation of the majority Serb Communist Association is being delayed. I don't think the problems of the Serb community in Kosovo will be solved anymore with Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe”, he says.

But Hehir criticises the Serbian president for breaking Brussels' agreements with opposition to Kosovo's membership in international organisations.

“Vucciq opposes Kosovo membership because it would further consolidate the citizenship of Kosovo; it is a simple political motivation that is directly opposed to Article 14 of the 2013 “Brussels Agreement”, which specified that “neither side will block or encourage others to block the progress of the other side on their respective path to the EU<84>, says professor at Westmin University.

Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe has alarmed the Serbian president, who has said that with this step Serbia is expelled “de fact” from this organisation. /Tave1