The Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of CoE approved on Wednesday afternoon the opinion of rapporteur Bakoyannis in the Committee for Political Affairs and Democracy of the Council of Europe.

This opinion recommends Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe without any additional preconditions. The report was voted with 31 votes in favor, 4 against and 1 abstention.

Member of the Assembly of Kosovo from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Besnik Tahiri said that the report was voted with 31 votes for, four against and one abstention.

“In the Committee, the deputies were divided. On the one hand, Serbia opposed and on the other hand there was almost a consensus in support of Kosovo’s membership”, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

After this vote in Strasbourg, the matter proceeds to the Parliamentary Assembly and if it receives approval in this institution as well, then the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe must give the final word on Kosovo’s membership during a meeting that will be held in May.

Kosovo applied in May 2022 for membership in the Council of Europe. Its membership is opposed by Serbia.

The membership of Pristina has been updated in recent weeks, since, with the request of the Government of Kosovo to the Cadastral Agency for the transfer of 24 hectares of land in the name of the Monastery of Deçan, one of the main conditions for membership has been fulfilled.

The news was also shared by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Kreshnik Ahmeti, who announced that Kosovo has successfully passed today’s vote in the Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly in the Council of Europe, which is also the first step for Kosovo’s membership process in the Council of Europe.

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, through a post on Twitter, supported the voting of the report, which she described as one more step towards Kosovo’s full membership in the Council of Europe.