EU says Serbia is breaking agreement with Kosovo with its conduct in KiE

Kosovo faced yet another obstacle this week to the Council of Europe (KiE), after its request to be a special guest at the KiE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee for Political and Democracy Affairs on Wednesday, was removed from the agenda.

Serbia, through its delegation to this Committee, but even through Parliament Speaker Anna Brnabyq, was proud of this achievement, calling it Serbia's great victory in protecting national interests.

Asked about that, an EU spokesman said Friday that Serbia is clearly violating its obligations from the Ohrid Agreement, reached between it and Kosovo in 2023.

Serbia's “Wayway to the Council of Europe is a clear violation of Serbia's obligations by the Ohrid Agreement”, says EU spokesman, underlining that this obligation is mentioned in Article 4 of the Agreement, where it speaks of non-compliance to membership in international organisations.

Serbia, in some cases in the past, has lobbied against Kosovo's membership in international organisations, although the agreement reached with European Union relief clearly says it cannot do so.

The agreement has not been signed, but the EU insists it is legally binding for the parties and must be implemented overall.

Kosovo failed to join the Council of Europe at the beginning of 2017, because it conditioned to establish the Association of Serb-run municipalities in Kosovo. Association is also a must for Kosovo by this agreement.

Last year, Serbia had formed a working group for co-ordinating the activities of state authorities against Kosovo's accession to the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe is a leading organisation to protect human rights. Evental membership would help Kosovo, among other things, in the area of rule of law, and fighting corruption.