Kamberi: Until the draft statute of the CSM is sent to the court, Kosovo is unlikely to become a member of any European institution

Belgzim Kamberi, a fellow at the "Musine Kokalari" Institute, told Kosovo Online that during the election campaign, the major Albanian parties in Kosovo did not take a clear stance on sending the draft statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities to the Constitutional Court for review. Based on what has been heard from them, he says there should not be high expectations in this regard if a new Kosovo government is formed before the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers session scheduled for May 13 and 14.

“If we have a new government in Pristina, we’ll need to see how they agree among themselves on the issue of the Community of Serb Municipalities and this draft statute,” Kamberi adds.

He also points out that the most important factor in this matter is whether the dialogue will continue to be led by the European Union and whether the process will move toward implementing the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, or whether the US administration will take over the process.

“If we remain on the same track, it will be difficult for Kosovo to become a member of any European or multilateral institution until it sends the draft statute of the CSM to the Constitutional Court, because that is what both Brussels and Strasbourg are requesting as a prerequisite for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe. So, it is hard to predict whether Kosovo could join the CoE without sending the draft statute to the court. But we will see if that might change after a new government is formed in Pristina and if Brussels and Washington can coordinate better on how the dialogue will continue. We’ll know more after the meeting that Ms. Kallas may have with the US administration,” Kamberi says.

When asked whether it would be enough for Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe just to send the CSM draft statute to the court for review, or if something concrete must also be done regarding its formation, Kamberi says progress in the dialogue will be needed, progress that includes implementing the Ohrid Agreement, which encompasses the CSM statute issue.

“In addition, there also needs to be progress in northern Kosovo in terms of holding new local elections in the four municipalities, which will likely be organized in the fall, alongside local elections across the rest of Kosovo. These elections will be the first challenge for the new government in Pristina and for Kosovo-Serbian relations in the dialogue. The majority Serb population must participate so that we can have new, legitimate local governments in those four municipalities,” Kamberi states.