An inter-parliamentary commission between the EU and Kosovo has called on the EU Council on Tuesday to give a mandate to the European Commission to review Kosovo’s application for membership in the European Union (EU).

The Commission, which operates within the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Kosovo and the EU, has also asked the five bloc member countries that have not yet recognized Kosovo’s independence to do so “as soon as possible”.

“We support Kosovo’s application for membership in the EU, we reiterate that future member states should be evaluated on the basis of individual merits”, the joint recommendation of the commission states.

Kosovo has applied for membership in the European Union on December 15, 2022.

Since then, the presidency of the Council of the EU has been shared between five member states: the Czech Republic, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and Hungary. The first one accepted the application, but none of the others reviewed it.

The Council, namely the representatives of the 27 member states, decide when the application is sent to the European Commission, which is invited to prepare an opinion on the merits of the applicant country to obtain candidate country status and open membership negotiations.

Kosovo is the only country in the Balkans that still does not have the status of a candidate country.