The Westernbalkans
Following an information from the international information agencies, there were serious difficulties for the vote of the Committee of Ministers on Friday (previously announced for 17 May) on whether Kosovo to join Council of Europe (CoE). Germany threw a spanner into the works by insisting that the controversial and EU-demanded Association of Serb Municipalities should be set up first.
In the hopes of satisfying German concerns, Kosovo wrote a letter to the CoE detailing its pledge to draw up a statute for the establishment of the association and send it to the Constitutional Court for review by the end of May.
Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla Schwartz said the draft would “integrate non-majority communities and implementation of Kosovo legislation in all municipalities”.
“The draft ensures not only the respect of Kosovo Constitution and laws, but also prevents impermissible interferences from outside in municipalities but also all over Kosovo,” she said.
But the draft letter has caused a stir at home, as President Vjosa Osmani’s office was not consulted before it was sent. Osmani’s advisor, Bekim Kupina told Radio Free Europe that the president “does not support this letter.”
On the other side the Serbian president Alexander Vucic replicated that Kosovo could not create such a statute without Serbia’s agreement.
“The Brussels agreement is quite clear, that it should be done with the agreement of Serbia” Vucic told local media.
The vote announced for 17 of May was postponed until either later this year or an extraordinary session in the coming months nevertheless it was sure the vote would pass with the required two-thirds majority.
It is not yet clear when the vote will take place.
Comments: Creation of the Association was agreed upon as part of the EU-backed dialogue, but it was not implemented, as Kosovo’s Constitutional Court found several provisions contravened its laws especially the fact that it does not include other minorities and that it could entail executive powers.
Since then, the initiative has not progressed as Prime Minister Albin Kurti, fearing a failure of a similar system in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Republika Srpska, has tussled with Belgrade and Brussels over how it should be formed and what powers it should have.
Despite the positive vote of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on April 24, which proposed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to approve Kosovo’s candidacy for CoE membership, as well as despite the positive opinion of PACE, the vote was postponed mainly because of the expressed clear position of Germany. The big ones are big.
