Kosovo makes last

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The government of Kosovo is making a last-minute effort to convince Western powers to vote on whether to admit the country as a new member in the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights body.

Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla-Schwarz in a letter Thursday to Theodoros Rousopoulos, the head of the Council of Europe’s Parliament Assembly, said the government would send a draft bill it is working on, outlining its proposal on Serb-majority municipalities, to Kosovo’s Constitutional Court by the end of May.

Foreign ministers of the member countries of the Council of Europe were to convene on Friday but it was unclear whether Kosovo’s admission would be on the agenda — and whether the letter from Gervalla-Schwarz could make that happen.

Kosovo needs at least a two-thirds’ yes vote from 46 member countries for council membership.