A few days after the ambassadors of Germany, France, Italy, the UK and USA (see EUROPE 11934), it is now the turn of the EU special representative to Kosovo and heads of EU mission in the country to call on the Kosovar Parliament not to abrogate the law on the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.
On 22 December, 43 parliamentarians took the initiative to abrogate this law, an initiative still pending before the Kosovar Parliament.
"The EU (...) urges the originators of the Parliament initiative to withdraw it", they stated, welcoming recent public statements by political leaders in support of honouring Kosovo's obligations, and commending the fact that media and civil society protested "against this harmful initiative".
For the European representatives, "any attempt to repeal or amend the mandate of the Specialist Chambers seriously undermines" Kosovo's commitment with regard to the rule of law, and would jeopardise "the joint EU-Kosovo work on the rule of law done in recent years". "This would adversely impact Kosovo relations with the EU", the European representatives warned.
The special representative and heads of mission stated that Kosovo's progress towards EU integration, including "genuine efforts aimed at guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and reconciliation" today "needs more support than ever". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)