Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic asked Interpol chiefs and the members to the organization's Executive Committee not to look at Kosovo’s renewed membership application and to vote against if it was put on the next years' General Assembly meeting.
In the letters sent to Interpol’s Secretary-General, Jürgen Stock, and the organisation’s head, Kim Jong Yung, Stefanovic said that nothing essential has happened since last November, when Kosovo had failed to win enough votes to become a member, to warrant the reversal of that decision.
In November 68 Interpol member countries voted in favour of Kosovo’s application, while 51 voted against and 16 abstained. A two-thirds majority of the 194-member organisation is required for the application to be accepted.
That was the third time Interpol has rejected Kosovo’s membership, after the bid was rejected in 2015 and 2016, while in 2017 Kosovo withdrew its application before the vote, citing lack of support.
Stefanovic said that Kosovo’s failed bid was proof enough that Belgrade was right in its stand regarding Kosovo’s membership, adding that even considering Kosovo’s application would imply Interpol was taking political action, which, he said, was strictly banned by the organisation’s Constitution.
“Conditions for the membership are regulated by Interpol’s Constitution and the Resolution on the procedure of the membership, both clearly saying that only a sovereign state can join,” he added.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decision which Belgrade never recognised. Serbia officially still considers Kosovo its province in spite of having no de facto authority there, with the exception of a Serb-populated enclave in the very north of Kosovo.
Kosovo is recognised today by 23 out of 28 EU member states, including ex-Yugoslav nations of Croatia and Slovenia, and around half of 193 UN members. Out of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, US, UK, and France recognise Kosovo, while China and Russia do not.
Besides Stock and Yung, Stefanovic wrote to all the members to Interpol’s Executive Committee, with a plea to vote against Kosovo’s membership if it was put on the agenda at the next meeting of the organisation’s General Assembly.
In February this year, Kosovo-based Indeks Online news website reported that the country would apply for membership in Interpol again, quoting Kosovo Interior Minister Ekrem Mustafa.
Soon after Kosovo failed to join Interpol last November, Pristina imposed 100 percent import tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia, in a move that instantly stopped the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations.
Kosovo had so far refused to revoke the decision in spite of ever-increasing pressure from the international community.
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