Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani, has affirmed that Kosovo has committed to establishing the Association through the ratification in the Assembly of the 2013 agreement, as well as the Basic Agreement of early 2023.

President Osmani responded to the letter from the three state leaders addressed to the rapporteur for Kosovo in the Council of Europe (CoE), Dora Bakoyannis, where assurances were given for the establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities. She stated that this commitment originates from agreements within the dialogue for normalizing Kosovo-Serbia relations.

“It’s not a commitment from March 2024, but from the basic agreement of 2023 accepted by the Kosovo delegation,” emphasized President Osmani to reporters after a conference organized by the University of Prishtina (UP) commemorating the 25th anniversary of NATO’s intervention. She added that this is now an obligation of Kosovo that the state must implement after accession to the CoE.

“What’s important is that it has also been my request to include in the letter a section where every obligation of Kosovo is to be implemented in accordance with constitutional law, statutes, and decisions of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. So, this is our framework, and we do not step outside of it,” stated the Kosovo head of state among other things.

Kosovo applied for membership in the CoE in May 2022, but the non-implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision on the Deçan Monastery posed an obstacle for the small Balkan country to continue its path towards membership in this organization.

It will require a two-thirds vote in the APCE, where deputies from the parliaments of member states participate, to recommend to the Council of Ministers to invite Kosovo to become the newest member of the CoE. If everything goes according to plan, this is expected to happen during the summit expected to be held in mid-May in Iceland. Until then, the state has a lot of ground to cover.

/k.s/