Kosovo's Assembly with poor performance during 2017

The Kosovo Assembly in 2017 closed with its worst performance. Its distribution on 10 May, going to early parliamentary elections, then local ones, extending the new Parliament's institution, prompted the highest legislature to fail to perform its post successfully.

That the Assembly has failed to fulfill its mission, MPs and legislature labour monitors themselves accept. Only four laws are the balance the Parliament managed to adopt at the autumn session, for nearly five months of its institution.

For these months, the legislature has held only 11 sessions, about 50 parliamentary questions, with half of which have not been answered by ministers, until 80 percent of parliamentary questions come from opposition parties.

According to these facts, Albert Krasniqi from the Kosovo Democratic Institute says the Assembly in 2017 has been among the poorest years since the postwar.

“Vitin 2017 The Kosovo Assembly has almost had it impossible to exercise its functions, which it has because of the distribution of the Government at the beginning of the year and the organisation of extraordinary elections. Then two rounds of local elections, which have influenced the Assembly to have a short time available to exercise its functions, and we also add to a crisis here, that blockade, which was about the framework of the sixth Parliament legislature that has affected a poor Parliament performance. We can even say that it is one of the years with the poor in terms of exercising the roles of”, Krasniqi said.

Krasniqi says that to prove this year's poor performance of the Parliament, the small number of laws adopted at the autumn session also indicates.

Under the government's legislative plan, which has about 88 laws, according to Krasniqi, it has had to be adopted by the end of the year or at least to be in procedure in the Assembly, but that did not happen.

“has been an ambitious plan and is given the beginning that this plan cannot be implemented. However, the Assembly has not yet adopted it as its own to accommodate a work plan for the rest of 2017. He hasn't done it, but from this we've found that they've been approved so far, or ratified to say better, three international agreements in the Assembly, and the budget revision for 2017 has been passed. So a total of four laws adopted by this legislature, or if we take percentages, are only 4 percent fulfillment of the entire Assembly agenda”, he said.

Meanwhile, about 27 bills are under consideration in the Assembly that have been brought by the Government, where many of them require a quick review by the Parliament.
That the Assembly was weak this year, and especially at the autumn session, MPs from political parties in office and opposition also accept it.

PDK MP Blerta Deliu says the highest legal body failed to meet the plan this year, but according to her, the Parliament's work is determined by the Government.
It's accurate what you say we've had few laws adopted in the work of the Parliament. The Government's agenda has been the one who determined the work of the Parliament. We've been waiting to have a lot of laws from the government, those are the laws that came and passed. What needs to be assessed during this phase is the good work of parliamentary commissions, ministers within this session have been almost every commission to report on their work. An added dynamic of the commissions and a greater supervision of the government that has not been seen at last session has been noted. But, however, a major commitment is needed at the next session, an added dynamic of the government is needed, but also its legal initiative to the Parliament's deputies”, Deliu-Kodra stressed.

Even LDK deputy Driton Selmanaj, who has long monitored the legislature's work, has assessed the Assembly's outcome extremely negative in 2017, especially from the new legislature's framework.

He leaves the Government responsible for the collapse of the Assembly, since he puts the executive in charge of the legislature's work.

In fact, in the overall context if we value the work of the Parliament for these months, I appreciate it's extremely negative. First the way the government was formed, then the government's unwilling to come and debate the governing programme in the Assembly, telling the prime minister that we have very important jobs rather than come here to debate with you, which is contrary to the most fundamental, basic elements of constitutionality in the country. The second began local elections and coalition partners, who are more than 20, found it more reasonable to handle elections than to come to the Parliament and carry out the constitutional affairs they have. All responsibility this time falls to the Government and the ruling coalition, they are determining the work of the Assembly”, Selmanaj stressed.

But, the Work of the Parliament monitors demand that to boost efficiency, MPs should have their legal initiatives.

However, Albert Krasniqi, from KDI, says that administrative capacities should also be increased so that they can offer greater support to MPs when they have legal initiatives.

Krasniqi expects the Government's greater accountability to the Assembly in 2018, ministers will be there and answerable for the job, but the Assembly will be more organised and accountable. / KP