Kosovo criticizes Council of Europe for not holding a vote on its membership, blames Serbia lobbying

By SYLEJMAN KLLOKOQI and LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo has criticized the Council of Europe’s decision against holding a vote on its membership, saying it deprived its people and especially its ethnic minorities of democratic tools offered by the continent’s top human rights body. Kosovo’s membership was not on the agenda of the council’s foreign ministers meeting after some had required the creation of an association of Serb-majority municipalities in the country’s north. Kosovo fears such a setup could turn into another Republika Srpska with broad autonomy. Republika Srpska is the name for the part of Bosnia-Herzegovina run by ethnic Serbs. Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla-Schwarz said some countries chose to side with Serbia after “a lobbying campaign against Kosovo’s membership.”