PACE Political Committee meets in Crete: Kosovo’s request for Special Guest status not on the agenda

The Political Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is meeting in Crete, and according to information received by Kosovo Online, the adopted agenda at the beginning of the session does not include Kosovo's request for Special Guest status.

This means that Kosovo remains in the status of an "Other Delegation" within PACE.

Kosovo requested Special Guest status in PACE at the end of November last year. It was included on the agenda of the Political Committee in March, but was removed after a majority of committee members, including MPs from Kosovo-recognizing countries such as Hungary and Germany, voted against it.

Elvira Kovac, a member of the Serbian delegation to PACE, stated yesterday that Serbian parliamentarians had several discussions with the PACE leadership, and that the Serbian delegation should use every opportunity to speak out about human rights violations against Serbs and other non-Albanian minorities in Kosovo.

Today’s session will also be attended by Greek MP Dora Bakoyannis, who served as rapporteur on Kosovo for PACE. In her report presented last April, she recommended that Kosovo be admitted to full membership in the Council of Europe. While PACE adopted her report, Kosovo still lacks a positive decision from the Committee of Ministers for admission, which the Quint countries have made conditional upon the submission of the European draft statute for the Community of Serb Municipalities to Kosovo's Constitutional Court for review.

What Special Guest status would mean in practice for the Kosovo delegation was analyzed earlier this year by Kosovo Online in the article “What Would Granting Kosovo Special Guest Status in PACE Entail?”

“Special Guest status can only be granted to a state, and Kosovo and Metohija is not a state, it is an entity, and that is something we consistently emphasize. Even though their legal and formal position in PACE wouldn’t change significantly, it would still represent a step up and a form of advancement,” Biljana Pantic Pilja, head of the Serbian delegation to PACE, said at the time.

Legal expert Milan Antonijevic stated that anyone familiar with international law would be surprised to see any proposal for upgrading Kosovo’s status on PACE’s agenda, given the clear decision from April last year, which told Kosovo that it must first fulfill its obligation to establish the Community of Serb Municipalities.