Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in Berlin that Kosovo will meet all the conditions to become a member of the Council of Europe and that in May it will legalize same-sex unions and work to meet the rights and needs of minority ethnic communities, including the Serbian minority.
“Kosovo will make an effort to soon become the second country in the Western Balkans, after Montenegro, which guarantees its citizens the right to a same-sex life partnership. We will work hard to pass it in the near future,” Kurti said in the German Bundestag.
On the sidelines of yesterday’s gathering, which was organized by Germany’s ruling social democratic SPD on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Council of Europe, he told the Euractiv Germany portal that, unlike in 2022, he now has the support of the majority of deputies of his Self-Determination party to vote on the legalization of same-sex unions in May.
Kurti expressed confidence that the proposal will be adopted in parliament, although he still has to convince eleven members of parliament to vote for it. He added that the decision of the Government session on the issue has already been adopted.
Euractiv writes that the introduction of same-sex marriages would be a big step because Kosovo would become the first Muslim-majority country to do so.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo said that joining the Council of Europe is the first step towards joining the European Union. In his speech, he recalled that in April 75 years ago, in 1949, two institutions were created that transformed European history – NATO and the Council of Europe, which he described as pillars of democratic peace in Europe, his cabinet announced.
In his speech, he emphasized Kosovo’s commitment to “democratic values and principles, rule of law, protection of human rights and paying attention to the needs of non-majority communities”.
“We will also prioritize the open issues facing our minorities, their rights and their needs, including the Kosovo Serb minority.” And we are working on this with the German Bundestag deputies in order to outline new and big initiatives,” Kurti said.
He added that his meetings in Berlin “were very encouraging” and that he will ask “Germany and German friends to help” to put Kosovo’s accession to the Council of Europe on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the member states and to convince others .
Kurti temporarily spoke in Berlin with SPD co-chairman Lars Klingbeil and party functionary Frank Schwabe, who is also the head of the German delegation to the Council of Europe.
On the morning of April 25, during a working breakfast at the “Bertelsam” foundation, he also met with the head of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Gerald Knaus, and the executive director of the foundation, Daniela Schwarzer.
