During one year, 11 laws were passed without opposition

The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo through 2018, compared to the previous years, has increased performance, especially in the numeric aspect. The Assembly this year has held a total of 42 sessions, of which 23 were plenary, 16 extraordinary and 3 solemn sessions.

So said in a communiqué of KDI, where it is estimated that progress has been marked in fulfillment of the legislative agenda from 36% during 2015 and 2016 to 42% in 2018, in legislative initiatives, in the initiative of interventions and the preview of parliamentary questions.

Despite positive performance in numbers, the lack of quorum has forwarded to the Parliament's work for 2018, where, in the inability of decision making, most of the plenary sessions held have had to be postponed for other days. Even in cases where quorum has been secured, many laws have not been voted, as MPs have not participated in the vote. As a result, many unfinished points of the agenda from various sessions have been collected and placed in a single session. As a result of these actions, the Assembly has not yet completed all hearings, including issues that have been in the order of day sessions from September. Based on the Labour Order, Kosovo's Assembly last week starts on Thursday to proceed on the following day if it does not complete all points. In the past, the Parliament has followed this practice and it is certain that the agenda is not overloaded. Furthermore, the schedule of the Assembly of the Parliamentary Headship, plenary sessions and parliamentary commissions has been known and implemented. Such a literal organization of work according to the regulation in question was ignored in 2018. The ruling coalition has been repeatedly challenged with lack of numbers. The Serbian list, as the ruling coalition partner, has most often boycotted the Parliament, but even in the event it participated has been very passive in both the plenary and parliamentary sessions. The boycott of the Parliament's work on the part of the Serbian List, as well as the lack of deputies from the ruling coalition, has influenced the parliamentary majority not to be guaranteed in the Assembly. Being in this situation, the opposition has been the key factor in meeting the legislative agenda this year”, the communiqué says.

The Assembly according to KDI, in its legislative agenda for 2018, provided 177 bills, including drafts planned by the Government, legislative initiatives from the Parliament, as well as other bills carried by the legislative agenda of the year before.

“changed from other years, when the Assembly was passive to launch legal initiatives, during 2018 The Assembly was much more productive. Of the 15 proposed legal initiatives, two have been adopted, nine are still in the screening procedure, while four of them are waiting to be reviewed. Of the 75 laws adopted this year, MPs from opposition parliamentary groups have voted their overwhelming majority. 38 out of the 75 laws adopted this year are laws that result from the SAA or the Agency for European Reform, as well as international agreements, and are all voted by subjects in opposition. Moreover, many other laws, such as laws on transforming KSF into military, the Law on Capital, etc. So have opposition deputies. In all, there are only 11 laws which have been adopted without the participation of deputies from two major opposition groups -- the LDK and the VV. Adoption of laws, in some cases, has been passed through regulation violations. According to the latter, each amendment should be voted special, while in practice, in frequent cases all amendments have been voted into the group. Likewise, the Assembly has continued this year with the practice of reviewing the bills in accelerated procedure, where 11 of the adopted laws have been considered by accelerated procedure. The number of public hearings for reviewing bills this year is very small in relation to the number of laws that have been adopted. Out of the 75 adopted laws, excluding 19 international agreements, for 56 other laws adopted by the Parliament have only been organised for 12 of them, while another 44 laws have been reviewed and adopted without public consultation. As far as parliamentary supervision is concerned, during 2018 opposition MPs have initiated 13 interventions and 19 parliamentary debates -- no bigger than along the V legislature. Also, 275 parliamentary questions have been carried out during this year, and 81 reports on Parliamentary Commissions on the part of the executive. Although there have been a large number of parliamentary questions, they have been read about several successive sessions by pre-members due to the lack of government cabinet in the Parliament works. Of the questions posed, 61% of them have been answered by the government cabinet.

The oversight of 34 independent institutions that report directly to the Parliament continues to be problematic for the highest legislative body. Examining annual reports of the work of independent institutions is the only mechanism with which the Parliament keeps these institutions under supervision and accountability, but such a mechanism is insufficient to have effective supervision of these institutions. Of a total of 14 commissions, 9 of them have reviewed annual reports of independent bodies, while total reports of 26 independent institutions in 2018 have been considered. Another challenge in the role of the Parliament in relation to independent institutions is delays in selecting members of the boards of these institutions. During 2018 The Assembly has seen a decline in financial transparency. So far, only the first six months of 2018 report has been published. Based on the financial reports for the first six months of 2018 (then January), which Kosovo's Parliament has published, it is noted that MPs have completed a total of 210 trips abroad, which the state budget has cost a total of 172,616. In April alone, June 2018, MPs' spending on trips abroad have increased by 86% compared to the first quarter of the year. Based on the financial report, it is noted that 78 of the 120 MPs in the Parliament have made trips abroad. However, financial reports do not provide information concerning the purpose of deputies' visits and the length of these visits”, the communiqué says.

KDI says Kosovo- Serbia continued to be a split point among the parliamentary parties in office and opposition. Although meetings between the president of Kosovo and Serbia have started since June 2017, the Assembly was delayed more than a year to pay due attention to these meetings and to articulate its role in what was called the new phase of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

Lastly, on December 15th of this year, the Assembly succeeded in adopting a resolution for this phase of dialogue and after six failed attempts by both the ruling and opposition parties. In spite of efforts, the broad consensus among political parties for a joint resolution was not achieved after the same found the support of only 59 MPs. During this year, the Parliament has not discussed the plenary sessions, nor has the Report on Achieving and the Challenge of Implementation of the Brussels Agreements compiled by the Government of Kosovo in June 2018, nor the State Platform for Finalisation of Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which was brought by the Government on June 5, 20181818x1>, is said in the communique.

KDI says these documents were discussed only on the Commission for Foreign Affairs, Diaspores and Strategic Investments