The Raska-Prizren Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Wednesday said no Kosovo institutions had contacted it or the monastery of Visoki Decani about potential implementation of a 2016 Constitutional Court decision awarding land to the ancient monastery.

“We expect the institutions of Kosovo to finally do their job in compliance with the law, to register our land in the cadaster and to issue ownership proof to the Monastery, in line with the Court’s decision. We believe this would be an important step for the rule of law,” it said.

The announcement came after several Kosovo media said the government, after years of opposition, had finally agreed to implement the 2016 ruling confirming that 24 hectares of land belongs to the 14^th-century monastery which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

They link this to Kosovo’s application to join the Council of Europe CoE during its Parliamentary Assembly in April.

Asked what will happen if the government does call for implementation of the court’s decision, Decan Mayor Bashkim Ramosaj, from the opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, said he did “not believe the government will ask for this”.

Since 2009, Visoki Decani has claimed ownership of some 24 hectares of land that it says was confiscated by Yugoslav-era communist authorities. Kosovo’s Constitutional Court ruled in its favour in 2016 – but the municipality has refused to return the land.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, promising to protect Serbian religious sites on its territory, considered by many Serbs to be the “cradle” of the Serbian nation and faith.

The Committee of Ministers of the CoE submitted Kosovo’s application for membership to the Parliamentary Assembly in April. If the Assembly approves the application, the Committee of Ministers should then give the final word.

The European Stability Initiative, ESI, published a report on March 4 which assessed that the property dispute between the Kosovo authorities and the monastery is among the key obstacles to Kosovo’s membership of the Council of Europe.

However, other key issues are issues related to the Belgrade-Pristina ongoing dialogue, such as the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo, which the government has not proceeded with.