Rohde: Kosovo to move for Association, son of the Council of Ministers when voting for KiE membership

Germany's ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, says the Government should not risk it, while Kosovo aims to join the Council of Europe next month.

Rohde said there should be moves from Kosovo, a draft of the Association of Serb-run municipalities to create a positive one before the Council of Europe's Council of Ministers says the final word in May on the Kosovo membership issue in the KiE.

"Germany has been beautifully lobbied into member states so that we can get this application forward, adopt it, and this happened”, Rohde indicated.

The ambassador added that implementing the Constitutional Court's act of carrying the land to the Decani Monastery has been one of the conditions for advancing Kosovo towards membership in the KiE, but stressed that it should not be jeopardised in the next steps.

We currently have a debate at the Parliamentary Assembly and a vote. And we have said that Kosovo for the protection of minority rights is an important country, so it should be part of the Council of Europe and look to this institution as well as to how we implement these rights on national minorities. And now we come to the issue of the Serb majority municipalities' Association. Now we need a majority on this issue and the Government cannot risk it because there are, in the Council of Ministers, we have every vote to move it forward, to get Kosovo into the Council of Europe, and each vote is important, because there are also member states that have not recognised Kosovo and that, their vote knows what it can be. That's why Kosovo has to move. I want to clearly say that it is not about the realisation of association, but to take continuous steps, not to stop”, Rohde said in an interview in RTK on Tuesday.

He said the issue of Association has been awaiting implementation for 10 years, and that there is expectations in the international community that Kosovo will move and make a draft association status.

To succeed in the Council of Europe, there is a expectations that there is a movement, that there will have to be a draft of association, that minority rights will be respected. Therefore, I am trying to clarify that we need a majority in the Council of Europe, and this majority is achieved by moving the Government of Kosovo, and we should not risk it. To create a positive atmosphere, it's not enough to say just that we've made the matter of the Decani Monastery because this has also happened in the last moment, and this has certainly not always been expected by all states as a good thing. But the important thing is that the rule of law has to act and all obligations are implemented to reach target”, Rohde said.

Kosovo took a step towards membership in the Council of Europe on 27 March. Despite the vote against Serbia and two other countries, the KiE Committee for Policy and Democracy approved the Kosovo rapporteur's report, Dora Bakojannis, who recommended that the country has met the conditions for becoming fully member of the Council of Europe.

The Parliamentary Assembly will discuss this on 16 April, and if it gives the green light, then the final word should be given to the Council of Europe's Council of Ministers in May.