Debt forgiveness cannot be done without Parliament approval

On October 3rd 2017, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo made a decision on pardoning debts for obligations having water ambalnizers to the Kosovo Republic budget since 2008. Based on blank arguments below, G SJP, INDEP and the GAP Institute reject this decision, calling it illegal, unfair and damaging the sustainability of the water sector and the Kosovo budget.

• According to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and the Law for the waters of Kosovo, water resources are wealth of general interest and ownership of the Republic of Kosovo. The decision to pardon debts to water bookmakers is contrary to determining ownership of the water resources of the Republic of Kosovo, because it has benefited a very small group from this state wealth.
• The pardoning of debts to water users is also directly contrary to principles and legislation in force. According to Article 6.1 of the Law for Kosovo's waters, “water user will pay all expenses resulting from the provision of services in which water resources for use of” will be involved. Therefore, pardoning debts cannot be made with the government's executive decision, without receiving approval of the assembly. The Law on Forgiving Public Debt, which was approved in the Kosovo Assembly, is also an example.
• In addition to this article, the principle of involvement in the discussion of interest parties from the same law has been violated. Under this principle, competent subx0organs are obliged to ensure that, in the procedure for adoption of provisions, strategic documents, software plans and decisions take into account the interests of interested parties”.
• In the process of making this decision, there has been a complete lack of transparency and clearly have ruled out extremely important acts in this process as they are: Parliamentary Commission for Boards and Finance, Parliamentary Commission for Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Development, Environment and Space Planning, Civil Society, etc. This decision also presents government interventions in the competencies of the judiciary, because the media have reported that the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning has filed charges against some of the high-ranking debtors.
• In addition to being illegal, the decision to forgive debts also undermines the sustainability of the water sector. On the basis of the Law on Kosovo's waters, the financial means for management, management and development of water are provided by just such payments as those of water ambalnizers and other users. For illustration, the pardoned debt is worth about 51m euros, while the MMPH capital investment budget for 2017 is around 46m euros. The growth of the budget for this sector would help take the necessary measures to improve water management in Kosovo.
• The pardoning of debts arbitrarily sends negative messages to the private sector and damages budget revenues of the Republic of Kosovo. Based on this ad-hoc decision, many businesses will hesitate to pay their obligations to the state of Kosovo, and their debts will be collected and made unaffordable. On the other hand, public institutions will consistently lack budget revenues.

Taking into account all these arguments, the GAP Institute, INDEP and GSJP require that the decision to write off debts to water bottlers be revoted. In order to balance demands and needs, both of the water sector and water producers, the same decision should be put into public discussion with all relevant actors, as well as a eventual decision must receive approval of the Kosovo Assembly, as the highest state institution authorising the collection of revenues and sharing of budget expenditures.

At the same time, INDEP, GSJP and the GAP Institute call on the Kosovo Prosecutor to begin investigating persons and officials involved in this illegal decision and the financial motives of the decision.