Kurti: Kosovo does not accept the Union of Municipalities as a condition for membership in the Council of Europe

Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti pointed out on Wednesday that his government will not accept the establishment of the Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority as a condition for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe.

Speaking at the Government session in Pristina, he said that Kosovo is facing "a new condition, which has nothing to do with membership" in the Council of Europe.

"The government does not accept membership in the Council of Europe being conditioned by the Community. We are discussing the normalization of relations with Serbia in Brussels, not in Strasbourg," Kurti said.

France and Germany asked Kosovo to take steps towards the formation of the Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority shortly after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted the recommendation to admit Kosovo to membership at the end of April.

At the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs on May 16 in Strasbourg, it is expected that the final decision on Kosovo's admission to the Council of Europe will be made. Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority in 2013, and then in 2015 on the principles for its establishment.

In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo determined that the agreement was not in full compliance with the Constitution.

Serbia demands that Kosovo implement the agreements reached, but the Government of Kosovo declared against mono-ethnic association.

The Council of Europe is an international organization for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe, based in Strasbourg, France.

It was founded in 1949.

The Council protects freedom of expression and media, equality and minorities in member countries.

One of the direct benefits of the citizens of Kosovo from eventual membership in the Council of Europe will be access to the European Court of Human Rights.