At the request of Spain, the EU Court of Justice excluded Kosovo from participating in the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications

The Court of Justice of the European Union decided in favor of Spain to exclude Kosovo from participation in the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), Demokracia reports.

As reported by the Spanish media, in the verdict published today, the Supreme Court of the EU considered that the European Commission, which in 2019 had allowed Kosovo to participate in the working groups of this body, had not been "competent" to approve such a decision, stressing that its only function in BEREC was to "control the proper functioning of regulations".

However, the judges of the European Court of Justice claim that their position has nothing to do with the fact that Kosovo is not recognized as a sovereign state within the European Union.

The dispute arose in March 2019, when the European Commission authorized several Balkan countries, including Kosovo, to participate in cooperation activities between national regulatory authorities and BEREC.

Three months after this decision, Spain appealed to the General Court of the European Union for its annulment. The state defended itself in its arguments that the executive power of the community had not had the authority to unilaterally set work standards and pointed out that "Kosovo cannot be considered a "third country" that had the capacity to participate in bodies such as BEREC", Gazeta 10 reports.

Although the General Court initially rejected the Spanish appeal, Spain did not give up, appealing to the highest instances.

Despite everything, and in order not to "jeopardize Kosovo's participation in BEREC", the European Court decided to preserve the effects of the Commission's decision until the adoption of new work rules between BEREC and Kosovo's state authorities.

According to the court, this emergency situation had to be resolved within a maximum of six months.