STRASBOURG – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted yesterday with 131 votes in favor, 29 against and 11 abstentions to recommend that Kosovo be invited to become a member of the Council of Europe.
The Committee of Ministers, the organisation’s executive body of Foreign Ministers, will make the final decision on Kosovo’s membership, which will require a two-thirds majority. The next meeting of the Committee of Ministers is scheduled for 16 and 17 May, though its agenda has not been announced yet.
Some media, including Radio Free Europe, have reported that, though the necessary majority exists, the European countries might request Kosovo to make progress towards the establishment of an Association of Serb-majority municipalities for the Committee of Ministers to make the final decision.
Reacting to the vote on Tuesday, Ambassador of Germany to Kosovo Jörn Rohde emphasised that Kosovo’s membership was supported by almost 80% of the votes.
“Now comes the heavy lifting: in order to secure the necessary 2/3 majority at the Committee of Ministers in May, Kosovo must do what is needed to convince with merits and action”, Ambassador Rohde wrote on X.
In its opinion on Kosovo’s membership, adopted yesterday, the Assembly stated that an Association of Serb majority municipalities would be “an important step” to ensure the protection of the rights of Kosovo Serbs and “should feature in the Committee of Ministers’ future consideration of Kosovo’s application to accede to the Council of Europe, as a post-accession commitment”.
The Assembly also welcomed as “a major breakthrough” the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s judgment in the case of the Visoki Dečani monastery, which it said was “a tangible sign of the commitment of the government to act in full accordance with the rule of law, irrespective of political considerations”.
The opinion was drafted by the Greek parliamentarian Dora Bakoyannis. MPs from Serbia submitted several amendments, which were rejected.
MPs from Italy and Hungary also submitted two amendments which stressed the need for substantial progress in the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities as a precondition for Kosovo’s membership. These amendments were also voted down.
MPs from Serbia, as well as majority of MPs from Spain, Cyprus and Hungary voted against the opinion. Meanwhile, majority of MPs from Greece, which does not recognize Kosovo, voted in favor.