The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika Gërvalla, has asked the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Council of Europe to include the membership of Kosovo in the agenda, after the letter in which the government pledges to compile and send a draft statute for the establishment of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority.

Deputy Prime Minister Gërvalla, at a press conference on Thursday, said that this draft document would fulfill Kosovo’s international obligations, as well as fully respect the Constitution and laws of Kosovo.

According to her, regardless of how this offer of the Kosovar side will be accepted, the process will continue for the drafting of the Association and its submission to the Constitutional Court.

“Through this letter, we have reiterated our willingness to prepare a draft document for the creation of a mechanism for self-management in coordination and cooperation of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo. This draft document would fulfill the inherited international obligations of Kosovo, would meet the needs of the Serbian community in Kosovo, at the same time would fully respect the Constitution and all the laws of Kosovo… Our commitment is serious and sincere. It is a renewal of Prime Minister Kurti’s offer on March 18, 2023 in Ohrid, on May 2, 2023 in Brussels, even during the last few weeks. A draft government document would be fully in line with the Constitution of Kosovo, including the judgment of the Constitutional Court, Federica Mogherini’s letter and Chollet and Escobar’s editorial. This offer has been rejected twice, we hope it will be accepted this time, but it now depends on the member states of the Council of Europe and not on us. After concretizing today our commitment to take an important and tangible step in fulfilling our commitments, we ask and expect the Council of Europe to fulfill its part of the obligation and to invite Kosovo to join the Council of Europe without delay, as the country that has not only been set more conditions in this organization, but has also fulfilled these conditions”, she said.

According to Gërvalla, this commitment letter is not late because if they considered it as such, they would have sent it earlier.

Asked if this letter of commitment was made in coordination with the QUNIT countries, the deputy minister of MFAD (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora), Kreshnik Ahmeti, said that the letter of commitment was sent through official channels to the Council of Europe, where all the QUINT countries are members.

He said that if at tomorrow’s meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the Council of Europe there is no readiness to include the membership of Kosovo in the agenda, the same can set a next date when such a thing can be done.

“The letter has not been published but has been sent through official channels. All QUINT countries, including the USA as a monitoring country… If there is no political readiness and will to change the agenda, of course tomorrow’s ministerial office can set a next date when this can be done. This would be a clear sign of moving forward so that we can also move forward with our proposal”, he declared.

Meanwhile, Minister Gërvalla underlined that depending on how Kosovo’s offer to the Association will be accepted, it will be decided on the next steps for pushing this initiative forward.