Abraham: The decision on Kosovo in the EC should not be left in the hands of Belgrade

Deutsche Welle. Mr. Abraham, Kosovo wants to join the Council of Europe. The EC Committee of Foreign Ministers will convene on Friday (20.05.2022). Will Kosovo enter the agenda?

Knut Abraham: The request was made a week before the ministerial meeting, on May 20 in Turin. And the question that matters now is whether the Italian government, which holds the rotating presidency, will manage to put this item on the agenda for Friday’s meeting. This would be the ideal case. Of course the time is very short. But the candidacy was something positive. If the application does not enter the agenda, the application will remain. Kosovo should then intensively promote to partners in the coming months so that after a year, this candidacy is successfully addressed.

In a previous message on social media, you asked Germany to pro-actively support Kosovo’s request. What more can Germany do?

Fortunately, the German government has made it clear that it supports Kosovo’s candidacy for membership in the Council of Europe. And that’s really good news. This is a logical continuation of the policy led by Angela Merkel. And this policy now needs to be translated into concrete steps. At the moment, this means, for example, that the federal government is working with Italian partners to put this topic on the agenda. And beyond that, and I am also sure that it will happen, the federal government will and must support the application and continuously promote Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe.

Germany has been puzzled so far, according to an analysis by the European Stability Initiative, published earlier this week. Is it true?

Germany has clearly stated its pro-candidacy stance. But I hear it’s important for the federal government to continue the normalization dialogue. But one cannot be a condition for the other. So I do not think the emphasis on normalizing dialogue means that Germany can be skeptical of the candidacy. I think the federal government wants to make it clear that it expects both sides to make progress in the normalization dialogue. I believe it was a good idea to bring both sides here in Berlin, to Tegel, to a table. I heard that the meeting did not meet expectations. However, it was good that it took place. I believe that the dialogue should continue, but should not be a condition for the issue of Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe. This decision can not be left to Belgrade. .

The approach to visa liberalization is similar. There are rumors that this process is also being held hostage to dialogue.

Visa liberalization must happen. This is my absolute hope and expectation. Kosovo has long met the criteria. A political initiative is now needed to finally achieve this important goal. I believe there is a chance, especially after the elections in France. Here I am calling on the German and French governments to finally resolve this issue. Kosovo has done its homework.

Knut Abraham is a member of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Since 2021 he is a member of the CDU party in the Bundestag. He previously worked as a diplomat in the Foreign Ministry and in the office of former Chancellor Angela Merkel.DW

top channel