QU INT) that leaves Kosovo in KiE without Association, the government in the resignation deems this “informal cliter”

The majority vote for the Parliamentary Assembly in mid-April last year to make Kosovo a member of the oldest European human rights organisation was used by the country's leaders to present this as a job done. Consequently, the government had agreed to register the Decani Monastery property, which was another requirement. The process was quickly stalled when this point was included in the agenda of meeting the foreign ministers of the KE member states as the decision-making body, which was held a month later.

Kosovo was asked concrete steps towards implementing the pledge taken in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue for the establishment of association. The refusal not to take these steps lasted this year on the part of Kosovo, and the same was applied to the Committee of Ministers. Moreover, this year's meeting found Kosovo without established institutions.

The incumbent government filed the same complaint last year about the mix of processes.

But the condition set by some of the KiE member states did not speak out.

“Nowhere are informal “cliterial”, which are falsely asking Kosovo” said outgoing Deputy Foreign Minister Kreshnik Ahmeti.

“Although all standards have been met and each criterion has been met, the membership of the Republic of Kosovo is not included in the Council of Europe ministerial agenda, which is held today and tomorrow in Luxembourg” Deputy acting Foreign Minister Kreshnik Ahmeti wrote today.

The ministers' community has never acted contrary to the opinions of the Parliamentary Assembly, and the current delay in addressing its opinion on Kosovo is unreasonable. It is precisely the Parliamentary Assembly that sets the membership criteria, as shown by the cases of the membership of Monaco and Armenia. Nowhere are unofficial “cliterial”, which are falsely asking Kosovo”.

Ahmeti added that all those who may have concerns about minority rights in the Republic of Kosovo could refer to the Council of Europe's Efficient Jurists report, which he said stressed Kosovo exceeds international standards in this area.

“Meanwhile, for the protection and implementation of these rights, there is no such thing as no local or international mechanism more effective than the Council of Europe, with all its mechanisms, especially with the European Court for Human Rights”.

Ahmeti said that Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe should be realised to protect the rights of its citizens and not to be treated as “through shopping or putting pressure”.

“This treatment is a disturbing signal to the region, especially in the new context after the meetings of Serbia's political and religious leaders with President Putin”.

In the end, Ahmeti said the membership process “is irreversible”.

He said the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo continue to communicate with member states, “moving decisively towards membership as the 47th state of the Council of Europe, in the official opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly of this organisation”.

On this topic, on the eve of the Committee of Ministers meeting, the prime minister in his resignation, Albin Kurti, said he spoke with representatives of the QUINT countries and EU Ambassador to Kosovo yesterday.

The key theme of the meeting was the process of membership of the Republic of Kosovo at the Council of Europe”, the prime minister's Office said of this meeting.

Even at this meeting, Kurti Sée mentioned association at all as the condition that is blocking membership, nor did he give any signal that he would meet this to move forward.

ZKM said Kurti has reminded foreign diplomats instead of the “Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the rapporteur for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe has already confirmed that Kosovo meets the legal and institutional criteria to be part of this important international organisation”.

Similarly, Kurti has told the ambassadors that the further financing of our country in the accession process would show that democratic reforms and line up with European norms and values are even recognized and valued and in difficult political contexts in which principled and strategic decisions are required that reinforce European unity and sustainability”.

However, a completely different version was provided by diplomats with Kurt for the meeting. Their messages were focused on forming the country's institutions and exiting the blocking cycle in the Parliament.

According to Enver Hasani, international law professor and international relations the issue of Association -- the condition for membership in the KiE -- is the reason for the institutional stalemate.

The main purpose of procrastination and institutional stalemate is to implement Serbian-territorial autonomy on Kosovo territory, which has been freely accepted by Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Ohrid in the spring of 2023. All other issues are simply causes and excuses to avoid this international obligation of Kosovo” has said Hasani in an interview Tuesday for Journal Express. /Periscope/