Balkans | The European Union remains silent on Serbia’s opposition to Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe

The EU Commission chose to remain silent when asked whether Serbia’s opposition to Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe constituted a breach of the EU-brokered agreement.

Peter Stano, a spokesman for the European Union Commission, avoided answering the journalists’ question whether the rejection of Serbia’s application for membership of the European Council in yesterday’s vote constitutes a violation of the Ohrid agreement reached between the two countries within the framework of EU mediation.

“Is this a violation of the agreement or not?” Stano told reporters. Do you condemn the match against Serbia? Is the agreement still valid? In response to questions, he replied that “the Council of Europe is a different institution than the European Union, the European Union referred to the above-mentioned ‘No’ vote, and the Ohrid Agreement is progressing smoothly.”

Leaving pressing questions unanswered about whether Serbia’s refusal to vote violated Serbia’s commitment not to oppose Kosovo’s membership in international organizations, which is mentioned in Article 4 of the Ohrid Agreement, Stano said, “We are fully aware of the political sensitivities and complexities associated with the process of implementing the agreement. For this The reason is that we have provided both parties with a step-by-step proposal to move towards implementation to help them fulfill their obligations.” He said.

Stano noted that the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo will meet in Brussels on May 2 as part of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

Yesterday, the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora announced that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has approved Kosovo’s application for Council membership and referred it to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Serbia, Spain, Romania, Georgia, the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus, Hungary and Azerbaijan voted against Kosovo’s application for membership of the Council of Europe.

Greece, Slovakia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina abstained, while Germany, Andorra, Albania, Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, the Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland and Italy abstained. The application was supported by Sweden, Switzerland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia and Turkey.

Relations between Serbia and Kosovo

Serbia considers Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence in 2008, to be its territory.

Serbia and Kosovo, which clash periodically, are trying to find a common way to normalize relations, and eventually the two countries get to know each other, within the scope of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process initiated in 2011 with the mediation of the European Union.

On March 18, in the EU-mediated negotiations in Ohrid, North Macedonia, which lasted about 12 hours, an agreement was reached on an agreement that would normalize relations between the two countries.

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