Haradinaj expected reduction of number of deputy ministers, not raise pay for itself

Given the fact that Kosovo is the poorest country in Europe and with high unemployment rates, according to economic area experts, Prime Minister Haradinaj has had to see the possibility of reducing the large number of deputy ministers and not reward them.

The Kosovo government has made the decision to raise salaries of several categories of employees, as it has said, “aimed at improving the material position of several categories of responsible employees and particular commitments”.

Kosovo Economic Ode Chairman Safet Gerjaliu told Radio Free Europe that the recent actions of the Government of Kosovo are disturbing, both with the employment of large numbers of officials and with the decision to raise salaries.

He says the Kosovo government is the property of Kosovo and not the property of “privatised”.

The latest “steps, whether with the uncontrolled employment of illiterates or with the politicisation of the processes, and recently salary raising for advisers and staff within the prime minister's cabinet, are evidence that Kosovo has become experimental space”.

At a time when extreme poverty and unemployment rates are on the rise and we have a doubling of salaries for government officials, this is something that at least honours Kosovo and its reputation”, Gerjaliu says.

According to the Government's decision, the prime minister's salary from 1500 euros as it has been, from this month will be to 2950 euros, while deputy prime ministers from 1300 euros were raised to 2,500 euros.

A ministry's salary has been around 1,200 euros, meanwhile with the new decision will be 2,000 euros. Meanwhile, about 70 deputy ministers appointed at the Haradinaj government will accept monthly salaries of 1150 euros.

Salaries have also undergone the positions of prime minister's advisers and several other government officials.

The increase in salaries of Kosovo government officials considers the decision to be hasty and scandalous, and lives Zulfaj, programme manager in Movement “FOL”

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, he emphasises, should not have had the first 100 days of government closed with favors and privileges for himself and his staff.

I think that as prime minister, he should extend the favors and privileges for the people, not for himself. If he's there according to the claim to serve the people, and in the first 100 days to raise wages for himself, that's a message contrary to claims he made”, Zulfaj says.

Even some MPs from the opposition have rejected the government's decision to raise salaries. Albulen Haxhiu from the Vetevendosje Movement in its Facebook profile has indicated that the Government's decision has taken him to the Anti-Corruption Agency because of the conflict of interest.

She has said that this decision will be delivered to the Constitutional Court as well because it is in disarray with the socio-economic situation.

The government's decision is a scandalous decision. Then the prime minister pays more than 10 times the average salary in the country is unacceptable”.

A pensioner gets 75 euros, citizens receiving social assistance even less. With a simple calculations, Haradinaj and ministers will have salaries more than 40 times the pension number”, Haxhiu wrote.

On the other hand, senior pensioners receive 80 euros per month, until contributing pensioners receive between 140 and 240 euros a month, while social assistance starts from 25 to 150 euros, depending on the number of family members. / REL