Kosovo itself decided to reject the draft of the Association before joining the Council of Europe

It is unbelievable that the Government of Kosovo really believed that with a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the last moment, it would change the minds of the main countries and vote for Kosovo's admission to the Council of Europe. But it seems that after careful calculations, the Government decided that the harm from starting the procedure for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority would be greater than the benefit from membership in the Council of Europe. It was a missed opportunity that won't come again anytime soon. But whether it was a mistake or not is a matter of interpretations and positioning. The responsibility rests with the Government, which also has the mandate to decide as it deems best

On April 10, a full week before the Parliamentary Assembly voted on the report on the recommendation for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, "Koha Ditore" had written that the fate of Kosovo's membership in this organization is in the hands of the QUINT countries. it. 

"In recent days, there have been more voices from diplomatic sources in the member countries warning that the voting may be postponed, or there may be a risk that Kosovo will not receive enough votes to join the Council of Europe. According to these sources, it all depends on QUINT's attitude. If QUINT supports membership, then this is expected to be placed on the agenda and in that case the 31 votes needed to accept Kosovo can be secured. But if some bad message comes from QUINT, then everything changes. And in that case, the achievement of the necessary majority of two-thirds of the votes will either be postponed or jeopardized".

"It is no secret that the doubts that QUINT has, and has instigated in others, about Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, are related to the initiation of the procedure for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority".

"Several Western diplomatic sources have said that in the last meeting that the QUINT Ambassadors had with the three institutional leaders of Kosovo (the president, the speaker of the Parliament and the prime minister) they verbally conveyed a demarche with the request that they at least send it for review in the Constitutional Court the draft of the Statute for the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority".

These are parts of the text we wrote to announce that the main countries had already linked their support for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe with the sending to the Constitutional Court of the draft statute for the Association. If we as a newspaper found this out from diplomatic sources, there is no doubt that the Government of Kosovo also found out in time. So at least for more than a month it is known as a condition. And when this condition was established, when it was also included in the exchange of letters between the heads of government in Kosovo and the QUINT countries, when it was also stated publicly by their ambassadors, there were only two options left. Either the Government of Kosovo ignores the request of the QUINT countries, or the QUINT countries change their minds. To believe in this second would be naivety, irresponsibility or diplomatic illiteracy on the part of Kosovo. So for more than a month, it was clear that if Kosovo does not take steps towards the establishment of the Association, and this step was specified by sending the draft to the Constitutional Court, it would not be done on May 16 or 17 of this year. member of the Council of Europe. After we believe that with so many advisers, internal and external, after so many contacts, the Kosovo authorities are not so naive, then it must be concluded that Kosovo consciously decided that priority should be given at this moment to the rejection of the draft of the Association Statute compared to membership in the Council of Europe. 

It is unbelievable that the Government of Kosovo really believed that with a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the last moment, it would change the minds of the main countries and vote for Kosovo's admission to the Council of Europe. But it seems that after careful calculations, the Government decided that the harm from starting the procedure for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority would be greater than the benefit from membership in the Council of Europe. It was a missed opportunity that won't come again anytime soon. But whether it was a mistake or not is a matter of interpretations and positions. The Government bears the responsibility. Because she has the trust of the citizens to decide on behalf of Kosovo. As those who were in power had when they took the responsibility to establish the Association on behalf of Kosovo and those who voted for it with a two-thirds majority in the Assembly of Kosovo.

Since the report was passed by a very large majority in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the phase related to the formal conditions, content, facts and criteria was completed. From then on, everything went completely into the realm of politics and diplomacy. And truth and justice matter little here. The condition that QUINT presented, without the countries that support Kosovo's independence and not those that are against it, was unfair.

But he was not unknown. Even Kosovo's position was not unknown. Because Prime Minister Kurti also explained in a letter to the leaders of the main countries the reasons why he cannot send this draft to the Constitutional Court for consideration. And since neither the Government nor the QUINT countries released pe, nothing happened on May 17. And nothing will happen, at least until May 14 of next year. Because it cannot be believed that now the government of Kosovo will send the draft for consideration, since this opportunity was consciously lost. And on the other hand, it cannot be expected that suddenly Germany, France and Italy, supported by the United States of America, will suddenly change their minds and admit that they were wrong, that they did injustice to Kosovo, and urgently vote for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe.          

After everything that didn't happen in Starsburg on May 17 was expected, the drama that ensued this weekend seems pointless. The expectations that were created that there was a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some posts on social networks from non-governmental organizations or deputies from Germany, will mark a "turn at the last minute" and that Kosovo would be admitted to the Council of Europe, were unnecessary. They may have been intended only to relativize the failure. Even the condolences of the diplomats that there will be an emergency meeting where Kosovo will be able to become a member, have the same purpose. So in order to relativize the failure, because it is also their failure. And from this failure there will and should be consequences for other processes as well, starting from that of the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Serbia. The attitude towards Kosovo is understandable, as it refused to consider a specific request for a specific obligation from the dialogue. But it is not understandable, much less acceptable, their silence towards Serbia's refusal "with thoughts, words and deeds" to respect the main obligations from the Agreement. This is an unfair, unbalanced approach between the parties.

The membership chapter of Kosovo in the Council of Europe will be on hiatus for one year. With this, any initiative for Kosovo to become a member of any other international organization will cease. Because if they do not accept it in the Council of Europe, for the same reasons they will not accept it in any other relevant international organization. Kosovo's request for EU membership will not be considered either. It is not realistic to repeat the request, and gain support, even for membership in UNESCO or Interpol. But on the other hand, if the membership in these organizations "is not real", if the recognition "if not de jure then de facto" by Serbia is not real, then the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority may not be real either. This government has taken this risk by deciding to reject the international request at this moment, aware that with this the membership in the Council of Europe will fail.

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