PACE: Lawyers are coming to Kosovo, and preparing a report on the compliance of the legal system with the standards of the Council of Europe

Source: Savet Evrope

Regarding the announcement that next week, as a part of the procedure for considering Kosovo's request for membership in the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of that pan-European organization (PACE) will send a delegation of eminent lawyers to Kosovo, Kosovo online received information from the press service of PACE that the delegation, in accordance with established practice, would prepare a report on the assessment of compliance of the legal system of Kosovo with the standards of the Council of Europe.

"Since this is a technical visit, no program will be made public. They are expected to meet with a wide range of interlocutors - from the authorities, civil society, representatives of the international community..." it is said from PACE for Kosovo Online.

Once the legal team had completed its work on the ground, we were told, there was no deadline by which it should prepare its report.

"The report will be submitted to the PACE Bureau, and the Bureau has not set a deadline by which it should be done," it is stated in the answers we received from the PACE.

The next step, after the lawyers’ report is handed over to the Bureau, will be for Kosovo to be visited by the rapporteur for Kosovo in the PSSE, Dora Bakoyannis, who is the head of the Greek delegation in this body of the Council of Europe.

"The date of the rapporteur Bakoyannis's visit has not been determined yet. According to the established practice, this visit takes place only after the Bureau declassifies the reports of eminent lawyers." we were told by PACE.

Kosovo officially submitted a request for full membership in the Council of Europe on May 12, 2022, and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided on April 24 of this year to forward that request for further procedure to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

During the decision-making process at the Committee, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Cyprus, Spain, and Serbia were against the initiation of the procedure for deciding on Pristina's request. Support for Pristina was provided by 33 countries, including the ones from the region - Montenegro, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Croatia, and Albania.