France, Germany and Italy Conditioning Kosovo’s Admission to CoE

Pristina (Photo: YTPrintScreen)

The French Embassy in Kosovo has said that forwarding a draft Statute of an Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities to the Constitutional Court for an opinion would ensure support to Kosovo’s admission in the Council of Europe (CoE). The Embassy said that the draft Statute proposed by the EU was the foundation for creation of an Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities.  

The German Embassy in Pristina on May 8 said it was time the Kosovo government assured CoE member countries it deserved to join the international organization by undertaking concrete steps towards creation of an Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities.  

Tirana-based Albanian Post has earlier reported that if German’s position was unclear before, it appears to be clear now that Berlin is taking the stand that Albin Kurti’s cabinet has to make concrete steps towards creating an Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in order to be granted membership in the CoE.  

France, who has been backed by Germany and Italy, has requested delaying the vote on Kosovo’s membership in the CoE which has been announced to take place during the May session of the Committee of Ministers, the CoE decision-making body, Albanian Post has reported citing diplomatic sources.  

Ambassadors of the member countries are expected to meet last time before the ministerial meeting in Strasbourg on May 8, when they are expected to make a long-waited decision on Kosovo. According to reports by Albanian Post, the ambassadors of the CoE member countries will not include Kosovo’s bid for membership on the agenda of the May session of the CoE decision-making body. For the time being, Kosovo’s membership is not on the agenda of the May 16-17 session of the Committee of Ministers, which is available on the CoE website.