ATTN: Θεοδώρα Ντόρα Μπακογιάννη
Teodora Dora Bakoyannis
Starting from the impression based on regulations: that only the UN member states may be admitted to the membership of the Council of Europe - we reckoned that the request of Kosovo* will not receive a recommendation for membership in the Council of Europe.
We were confused by your announcement that Kosovo* will receive your recommendation if it fulfills three conditions, because it ended up receiving recommendation by fulfilling one of those conditions. Eventually, you accepted that Kosovo* fulfills only one condition, namely the decision of its Constitutional Court, which it has not wanted to fulfill since 2016. Even that sole condition you consider fulfilled is disputed. The decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo* was implemented only after many years of pressure.
We were surprised to learn that you compiled and submitted the Report on the fate of Kosovo*, without consulting the official representatives of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the first place, and you decide on their rights and interests. These are not the criteria of the rule of law.
In addition, the Report is contradictory since its conclusion is inconsistent with the its reasoning: based on what you established in findings, it was expected that the Request of Kosovo and Metohija would be rejected.
Unfortunately, on the basis of your report, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommended the Committee of Ministers to accept the membership of Kosovo* in the Council of Europe.
We are of view that Kosovo*, which violently and illegally seceded from Serbia, does not meet the binding requirements of Art. 4 of the COE Statute (that it is a state and that it is able and ready to fulfill the principle of the rule of law and the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons) so we propose to withdraw your recommendation that Kosovo* be admitted to EU membership.
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Your aforementioned position in the Report caused condemnations in Serbia, which you state affected you, so you reacted with a statement that was transmitted under https://radar.nova.rs/politika/grcka-kosovo-srbija-dora-bakojani/, and we comment it in the text below, since it contains several ambiguities, such as:
* It is true that the EU is our biggest trading partner, as you stated, for several reasons: proximity; ban on Serbia from trading freely with non-EU countries, Russia, China; Serbia was impoverished and imploded by an unprecedented, complete four-year international isolation from 1992 to the end of 1995, in which Greece also participated. Illegal aggression followed and NATO bombardment, without consent of the UN Security Council. Poorer Serbia is more interesting as a raw material base, because of lithium, because of cheap and educated labor force, etc.
* It is true, as you stated, that Serbia's European integration is decreasing and that the normalization of relations with Priština is at a standstill.
It is unclear what kind of integrations are you talking about. Willi Wimmer, conveying the statements from the Conference held in Bratislava in 2000, informed the then German Chancellor Schröder about the agreement that Serbia must be permanently excluded from European development (http://www.novinar.de/2008/03/15/vili-vimer-pismo-kancelaru-gerhardu-srederu.html), and Schröder also told our Prime Minister Đinđić that Serbia would never be admitted to the EU (https://www.b92.net/o/info/vesti/index?nav_id=1836480), which was confirmed by Angela Merkel, saying that after Croatia there will be no admission to the EU (https://www.srbijadanas.net/merkel-posle-prijema-hrvatske-eu-zatvara-vrata/).
Even if there were really any will of the EU members for the integration of Serbia, the reasons for the stalling of European integration are created by the EU itself, by constantly pouring new demands and blackmailing Serbia to "completely normalize relations with Pristina", which implies the recognition of the violent and unconstitutional separation of part of the state's territory, as the consequences of the NATO bombing (which was legally established by the Berlin court in 2000, a member of which is Greece bombing followed (http://web.archive.org/web/20040703175441/http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~ami/extra/prozesse/begruendung.htm, with the later public recognition of the then chancellor Schröder). You were a witness to the bombing in Belgrade - as you stated. Is it acceptable to violate the Helsinki Charter, to degrade the rights of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, to alter their status of the constituent people to a level below the status of a national minority, to violate basic rights and freedoms? The Serbs are being forced to accept the violently and illegally made decisions of Christian Schmidt, which annul the Dayton Agreement, disenfranchise and demonize the Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church, etc.
While Greece trades with China and Russia, officially and unofficially, together with the EU, it disputes Serbia's right to fight for economic survival. Without that, Serbia would be more backward, and probably far more attractive for investments in the interest of the USA, Germany, Italy... and for the sale of goods of lower quality at a price of their far higher quality equivalents intended e.g. for the markets of Germany, the EU, etc. (https://rtv.rs/sr_lat/ekonomija/aktuelno/roba-u-eu-i-jugoistocnoj-evropi-nalepnica-ista-kvalitet-ne_1013332.html, https://www.danas.rs/svet/postignut-dogovor-o-istom-kvalitetu-robe-na-celoj-teritoriji-eu/).
* We are not aware of your special ties with Serbia and the Serbian people, which you mentioned.
You stated that for preparing a positive opinion (probably in connection with creating a positive Report for the COE) you needed 300 days, missions in Priština, North Mitrovica and Brussels, with a team of specialized lawyers, dozens of meetings with governments, ambassadors, Serbian mayors, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, churches, non-governmental and international organizations.
Have you communicated with authorized representatives of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church, FROM WHICH KOSOVO* IS ILLEGALLY SEPARATING? There is no such information. Father Sava's public acknowledgment of your efforts, which you mentioned, does not make up for contact with authorized representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, just as contact with unnamed local "Serbian mayors" cannot make up for necessary contact with official representatives of Serbia. At the same time, due to blatant violations of the fundamentals human rights and freedoms of Serbs (right to life, security, freedom of movement, prohibition of discrimination, freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, protection of property, etc.) - Serbs boycotted the elections, which we did not notice in your Report, so it is unclear with whose mayors did you contact, Serbian or Albanian?
By the way, let us not forget: Serbs are the victors in the WWI and WWII. During the First World War, your cousin Eleftheros Venizelos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Bakoyannis) reacted to the offer that Greece would receive parts of Serbian territory in exchange for betraying its ally – Serbia by saying: "We are a small country for such great meanness" (https://www.danas.rs/zivot/covek-koji-je-odredio-sudbinu-srba-u-prvom-svetskom-ratu-elefterios-venizelos/). That's why one of the streets in Belgrade bears his name, so we can only talk about its special ties with Serbia.
* You stated that the COE Parliamentary Assembly will not take a position on whether Kosovo is a state and that during your speech in the plenum you emphasized: " I would not have accepted the position of rapporteur if the Committee of Ministers had obliged me to express my position on whether Kosovo is a state, agreed I would have aligned with the position of my country ".
According to the COE Statute, only a state can become a member of the COE, and you proposed that Kosovo* be accepted into the COE, as if it were a state. Didn't you ipso facto express the view that for you Kosovo* is a state?
Would you have the same position if Epirus and Thessaly, or e.g. Northern Cyprus, would be admitted to the Council of Europe, given that the legal norm has two features - abstractness and generality (applies to an unlimited number of cases and to all equally - bearing in mind the provisions of the UN Charter, the Helsinki Charter and the Statute) ?
* You stated that no candidate state has ever had to implement so many reforms before the organization (thinking of COE) began to discuss its accession and that this is the reason why 83% of the Parliamentary Assembly voted in favor of the Report.
As far as we know, until now the candidates were only and exclusively states and all of them were admitted to COE membership with the principle of unanimity. In addition, in your report you point out the problem of non-application of regulations and even non-implementation of decisions of the Constitutional Court in Kosovo*. Even if Kosovo* were a state (which it is not), and if it was a member of the Council of Europe (which it is not because it is not a state), the conditions would be met to be expel it from membership due to non-compliance with statutory obligations (for example - the epilogue of Dick Marty's report?) .
* You stated that Serbia will lose a quarter of its population by 2050, because young and skilled people emigrate in search of work, and that this tragedy could be reversed by a forward-looking liberal policy.
Young people do emigrate for work, but primarily because Serbia is isolated with limited activities, a limited market, limited and dedicated loans, limited international contacts and therefore serves as a dumping ground for dirty technologies, as a raw material base and a base for cheap labor. You want to change that trend, but we do not see that the Greeks in Cyprus or the Greek emigration follow the recommendations you propose to Serbia.
* According to the cited source - you feel wronged and disappointed because of personal attacks by extreme voices.
Maybe? Injustice and disappointment due to possible personal attacks triggered by the disputed Report by which you decide on the rights and interests of Serbia and Serbs will pass, even if they are justified, and the harmful consequences of your statement for Serbia will not.
Democracy Development Foundation