Arifi: Kosovo missed the chance for Council of Europe membership

Professor of European Integration Dritero Arifi stated that Kosovo has missed the chance for membership in the Council of Europe. He sees the main reason why Kosovo's allies did not push for its membership to be included on the agenda of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers as the failure to submit the European draft statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities to the Constitutional Court for review.

“We are not on the agenda. If we had a government, there might have been some hope that things could move forward. As for the German Embassy in Pristina, they publicly stated that the previously outlined conditions remain in force and that they cannot push any membership agenda for Kosovo within this mechanism until those conditions are met,” Arifi told Kosova Press.

The German Embassy in Pristina stated that Kosovo would not be able to become a member of the Council of Europe this year either, unless it submits the EU-proposed CSM draft statute to the Constitutional Court.

As a reminder, Kosovo’s request for Council of Europe membership was not included on the agenda adopted today at the 134th annual meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, which began in Luxembourg. The ministers confirmed the agenda adopted on May 7 at the ambassadorial level, and Kosovo’s request was not on it.