Prime Minister of Kosovo Isa Mustafa met the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous with whom he discussed the political situation in Kosovo and the region. Prime Minister Mustafa informed Ladsous about priorities of the Kosovo government, about sustainable economic development, rule of law, fight against corruption and organised crime and Euro-Atlantic integration. The Kosovo government is part of the war against terror and extremism and it has drafted a strategy for fighting such phenomena.

Kosovo’s Minister of European Integration, Bekim Collaku, met today with the Council of Europe Head of Office in Pristina, Isabelle Servoz Gallucci, and informed her that the Kosovo government was making all necessary preparations to apply for membership of the Council of Europe. “I also notified Gallucci about our two priorities in the European agenda: the visa liberalization process and the signing of the Stabilization/Association Agreement.

The Council of Europe has not yet received a formal request for the admission of Kosovo despite announcements from both Pristina and Belgrade that Kosovo is rapidly preparing to apply for membership, was said from the office of the Secretary-General of that pan-European organization.  According to unofficial information from Strasbourg, Pristina authorities are planning to submit a request for membership during the Belgian presidency of the CoE Committee of Ministers, which ends on May 19th and strive to provide support in this international organization for such a move.  From appl

The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hashim Thaci, informed today the government of Kosovo about his visit to Brussels and meetings with senior officials of the European Union. Thaci said that Kosovo has met the criteria for applying for membership in the Council of Europe. “Kosovo has met the criteria for membership and hopefully in coordination with international partners, we will apply in the next three months, and we expect to join the Council of Europe,” said Thaci.

BRUSSELS - The Council of the European Union commended on Tuesday the progress Serbia made in internal reforms and in the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, noting, however, that there is still work to be done. “The Council welcomes the progress made by Serbia in the past year, including in public administration reform, judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organized crime,” reads the document adopted on Tuesday at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. The Council welcomes the launch of accession negotiations with Serbia and commends the high level of pre

Former Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur, Dick Marty, in an interview for SRF (Swiss radio), says statement by Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) prosecutor, Clint Williamson, is of extreme importance. “Not too many people expected such positive results. Ambassador Williamson speaks of crimes against humanity. He knows what meaning these words have. What has happened today is extremely important. Witnesses don’t trust the Kosovo or international justice system. There are reasons for this.

The recent decision of the Venice Commission to allow entry of Kosovo in its composition will have a series of symbolic as well as practical consequences, and precedents in the work of this institution, which has a strong influence in international relations. We examined what will change in the ‘treatment’ of the southern province within "the European Commission for Democracy through Law," and beyond.  By the admission of Kosovo a great precedent has been made, because so far all the members of the Venice Commission were - the states.

On the front page, the paper claims that investigations into war crimes allegations presented in the Council of Europe (CoE) report have concluded there is no evidence that an organ trafficking trade existed, but in the course of the investigation, evidence was found regarding other crimes alleged to have been committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). 10 to 20 former KLA members are expected to be indicted for these crimes as soon as the Special Court is up and running. The indictment will include KLA members from the Drenica and Dukagjin zones, sources told the paper.

Kosovo has on Wednesday been admitted as a member to the Venice Commission which the paper says is a step forward in gaining membership in the Council of Europe. A statement issued by the Kosovo Foreign Ministry stated that 35 countries voted in favour of Kosovo’s membership in one of the most important institutions of the Council of Europe. Kosovo is expected to benefit directly from membership in the field of strengthening democracy as well as constitutional and election reforms.