The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) will discuss today in Strasbourg the recommendation for the admission of Kosovo to the membership of that pan-European organization.
The MPs will have a Draft Opinion on Kosovo's request for membership, which recommends Kosovo's entry into the Council of Europe.
The document drawn up by Greek MP Dora Bakoyani was adopted on March 27 by the PSSE Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy.
If the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopts the Opinion, the final decision on Kosovo's membership will be made by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in mid-May.
In the draft of the document that will be discussed today by MPs from the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, it is stated that membership in the Council of Europe would contribute to Kosovo "continuing to make progress in strengthening human rights, democracy and the rule of law and to address existing challenges", such as the gap between normative standards and their effective application, the need to improve the protection of the rights of non-majority communities, and fostering a climate conducive to building trust, reconciliation and inclusion.
The committee welcomed the recent implementation of the Kosovo Constitutional Court's ruling from 2016, which recognized the ownership of 24 hectares of land to the Visoki Dečani monastery, as a "great step forward".
Returning the land to the Visoki Dečani monastery was one of the three conditions for Kosovo's entry into the Council of Europe. What remains are the formation of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority (ZSO) and the review of controversial expropriations in municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, including property of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Those two conditions are marked in the draft Opinion as "post-accession obligations of Kosovo", which Pristina must fulfill after admission to the Council of Europe.
The document states that the formation of the ZSO will help ensure the protection of the rights of Kosovo Serbs and that the PSSE should expect Pristina to take "substantial and concrete steps" in order to establish it.
When it comes to expropriations, the Committee indicated that they should be carried out "with the strictest respect for the law" and in full agreement with Marti Ahtisaari's plan.
Noting the deterioration of the security situation in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, the Committee pointed out that "the risk of open violence in Kosovo is very real" and added that security depends on "the protection of the rights of the Serbian community, the de-escalation of tensions and the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia".
Acknowledging that Kosovo's request is accompanied by "unprecedented circumstances", since a number of Council of Europe members do not recognize Kosovo as a state, the Committee called for "diplomacy, dialogue and compromise", according to the statement.
It is added that the PSSE Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy called on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to ensure that Kosovo's membership is not affected by "the views of individual member states regarding Kosovo's statehood".
The Committee also recommended that the Assembly initiate a monitoring procedure for Kosovo, in order to ensure compliance with the obligations undertaken by the Kosovo authorities in the accession process.
The draft Opinion also states that membership in the Council of Europe would be a turning point in the process of Kosovo's European integration.
Membership in the CE would enable Kosovo to access the European Court of Human Rights and join numerous international conventions.
Kosovo applied for accession to the Council of Europe in May 2022. In March 2023, the Council of Europe decided to forward Kosovo's application to the Parliamentary Assembly of that organization.
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