The position of the opposition is divided regarding the association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, as a condition for membership in the Council of Europe by several European countries, leaving Kosovo off the official agenda of May 16 and 17, when the vote for its entry into the important European organization was expected.

The agenda of the Council of Ministers on May 16 and 17 does not include Kosovo as it was announced, but German Ambassador Jorn Rohde said that this could change as he also had a call for Kosovo, alluding to the formation of the association as a condition to receive two thirds of the necessary votes.

From the position they say that the criterion for the association has been established after the report of Dora Bakoyannis was approved, which received the green light from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to proceed to the final decision.

The Vetëvendosje MP Mefail Bajqinovci told KosovaPress that not placing Kosovo on the agenda at the meeting of the Council of Ministers with the conditions for the establishment of the association is unfair, since Kosovo has fulfilled the criteria and recommendations for membership.

The MP of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Ferat Shala, considers that the Kurti Government has already lost the step towards the country's membership in the Council of Europe. He blames the government led by Albin Kurti for this, because of the promise to the European factor that it will establish the association.

The MP of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Armend Zemaj, also says that the Government has taken bad actions to the detriment of the state of Kosovo. According to him, the conditions imposed by Kosovo's friends are the biggest disaster for the country, as he calls the European draft statute for the association dangerous for the state of Kosovo.

Political expert Dritëro Arifi says that the Government of Kosovo was aware in advance that it cannot be part of the Council of Europe without the establishment of the association.

Otherwise, the country's prime minister, Albin Kurti, said that the association has nothing to do with Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, although he admitted that some member countries of the Council of Europe have requested such a thing, underlining that this is a constant request of the international community.

The Foreign Ministers of the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe will hold their annual session on May 16-17, as part of the organization's 75th anniversary, while a day earlier, when the vote for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe was expected, the ministers Foreign will participate in a ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe.

However, the German ambassador in Prishtina, Jorn Rohde, said today that the agenda of the meeting of the Council of Ministers may change in the last moments, without giving more details. Meanwhile, he has warned Kosovo that it must take a bold decision, thus alluding to the establishment of the association, in order to receive the necessary votes for membership in the European organization.

The current agenda of the Council of Europe on May 16 and 17 will include the measures which the Council of Europe is continuing to take in response to the Russian Federation’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, implementation of the Reykjavik Declaration (adopted at the Summit of Heads of State and Government in 2023) and the adoption of a Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.

At the end of the ministerial session, Liechtenstein will hand over the presidency of the Committee of Ministers to Lithuania. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of Liechtenstein, Dominique Hasler, will take stock of her presidency. The Lithuanian Prime Minister, Ingrida Simonyte, will present the priorities of her country’s presidency.

A press conference is scheduled at 13:00 on Friday 17 May with the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein, the Prime Minister of Lithuania and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić.

CoE spokesman Daniel Holtgen stated on May 8 that the issue of Kosovo is not on the agenda of the Council of Ministers and that it is not known when it might be, without giving more details.

Kosovo last month received the green light from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for membership in this organization. Some of the western countries, including France and Germany, made it a condition for their vote that Kosovo take concrete steps to establish the association, based on a draft statute drawn up by western diplomats that was submitted to the parties in October 2023, but that the prime minister Albin Kurti called such a condition unacceptable.

The agreement on the establishment of the association was reached in 2013, within the dialogue for the normalization of Kosovo-Serbia relations, with the mediation of the EU. /E.Krasniqi/