Kryeziu: Kosovo without support for Council of Europe membership due to the CSM and political crisis

Kosovo has once again missed the opportunity to gain membership in the Council of Europe this year, after its application was not included on the agenda of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, which is scheduled to meet on May 13 and 14, Kosova Press reports. According to constitutional law professor Kadri Kryeziu, the failure to resolve the issue of the Community of Serb Municipalities, as well as the failure to form new institutions, contributed to Kosovo being left off the Committee’s agenda.

According to him, the longer the political crisis in Kosovo lasts, the greater the negative impact from external factors will be.

"This form of the process is extremely negative, both for internal and external factors. I proposed that the government be formed as soon as possible because we face an exceptionally demanding year. We must take into account the change in the US administration, which is a radical and unpredictable shift. We must be very careful and aware of the need to form a government quickly," Kryeziu emphasized.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora did not comment to Kosova Press on the reasons why Kosovo’s membership request was not included on the agenda of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the decision-making body for membership that meets only once a year.

Last year, the obstacle to inclusion on the agenda was Kosovo’s decision not to fulfill the request of three major EU countries – Germany, France, and Italy – to submit to the Constitutional Court the draft statute proposed by the EU for the Community of Serb Municipalities.

Kosovo’s institutions did not accept the draft statute for the CSM prepared by the EU and opposed sending it to the Constitutional Court for review.

Kosovo submitted its application for membership in the Council of Europe in 2022.