Application by Kosovo* for membership of the Council of Europe - Dora Bakoyannis

28/03/2024
SUMMARY
Kosovo’s aspirations to join the Council of Europe should be met with a positive response. Membership would lead to the strengthening of human rights standards by ensuring access to the European Court of Human Rights to all those who are under Kosovo’s jurisdiction. It would also enable the Council of Europe to have greater oversight of domestic developments and to deploy all the instruments at its disposal to contribute to consolidating democracy and the rule of law. Furthermore, membership of the Council of Europe would represent a milestone in the process of Kosovo’s European integration.
Membership of the Council of Europe should catalyse momentum for Kosovo to continue to make progress in strengthening human rights, democracy and the rule of law and address outstanding challenges. Amongst them are a gap between the normative framework and its effective implementation; the need to improve the protection of the rights of non-majority communities and to foster a climate and public discourse which is conducive to trust, reconciliation and inclusion; focusing on language, education and youth policies to ensure that Kosovo’s multi-ethnic society is cohesive rather than fragmented along ethnic or language cleavages; ensuring full compliance with the rule of law irrespective of political considerations; promoting inter-institutional respect; and strengthening the quality and efficiency of the judiciary.
In this context, the implementation of the 2016 judgment of the Constitutional Court in the case of the Visoki Dečani monastery is a breakthrough. In addition, the Parliamentary Assembly should expect that substantial and tangible steps are taken with a view to establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities and that expropriations are conducted in the strictest respect of the law and in full compliance with the Ahtisaari Plan.