6 minutes agoRohde supports Havener's statement: Constitutional, the only institution that can assess Association draft status
Periskopi(2 years ago)
(2 years ago)Germany's Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, has backed the statement US Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier, who declared two days ago that the Constitutional Court is the only institution that can assess the draft association state. Rohde has said Kosovo is not being asked to complete implementation of association, but one [...]
Rohde has said Kosovo is not being asked to complete implementation of the Association, but a first step in this direction, which is sending the draft status to the Constitution.
“I've said publicly many times... we're not asking for full implementation of association. We're looking for the first obvious step. And this is sending draft status to your Constitutional Court. Because, as my American colleague said yesterday, the Constitutional Court is the only institution on this planet that has the powers to control this draft state, no other institution. If Kosovo doesn't, it's easy for the other side to say we don't do anything. Because draft status for Association is the only thing Kosovo should do”, Rohde has said in an interview for Tv1.
He has said if such a thing is not done there will be consequences for Kosovo, and non-membership in the Council of Europe according to him is one.
Kosovo's prime minister had stated weeks earlier that the EU draft state of association should be sent to the Venice Commission.
Speaking on the issue, Ambassador Havenier said Thursday that the US expects the Kosovo government to take any action to send the draft status quo to the Constitutional Court, saying “this is the government's choice”.
He said there is only one organ on the planet that can really decide whether this draft-state is in line with the Constitution of Kosovo, which is the Constitutional Court.
So there's a very important status. And as we have told Kosovo, we believe it is good enough and it is sufficient that Kosovo fulfils its obligations using this draft. This is very powerful. These are not just a series of ideas from any counseling organization. So our best advice for the Kosovo government is to use this opportunity to push it forward. There is only one organ on the planet that can really decide whether this draft draft is in accordance with the Kosovo Constitutional Court itself, Kosovo Constitutional Court” said.
