Besides visas, demarcation has blocked other processes

The political drama created with the ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro is reflecting on the overall work of the Kosovo Assembly.

According to civil society representatives, lack of demarcation decision-making has also blocked many important processes and issues for the country, which are failing to enter into procedure.

Analyst Albert Krasniqi from the Kosovo Democratic Institute tells Radio Free Europe that the demarcation agreement with Montenegro has not only blocked the visa liberalisation process, but, according to him, she and the politicians have paralyzed many important processes by failing to adopt necessary laws.

The demarcation issue has damaged the Parliament's work mostly and thus some of the issues, as well as important for the country, are left behind. We can mention here the electoral reform, which has started since 2011, and has never been completed, and as a result, there are today politicians taking public positions who have competed in elections with criminal acts”, Krasniqi says.

Laws like that of political parties -- the law for Pristina -- have remained unapproval or required to be amended. Krasniqi stresses there are over 50 laws, which are waiting to be reviewed in the Kosovo Assembly, but, according to him, there are debates on daily politics taking place.

The government is much more active in drafting laws, but those laws when they are brought to the Assembly, this institution because of a major debate it makes there and of daily policies [these debates] have no effect on citizens' lives, are more for internal consumption and populist politics”, Krasniqi estimates.

Political parties represented in the Kosovo Assembly should understand the importance of adopting laws on time, says Ariana Qosaj-Mustafa, programme director and senior researcher at the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development.

The decision making, but the laws that are important to the lives of citizens have been postponed because of the processes... we are also used to in Kosovo that because of such processes of political nature, not to deal with reality. For example, the Law on Health Insurance, you know how long it is expected to be amended to finally have insurance. This and other issues are postponed because we always deal with other issues that are considered a priority, of course they are, but do not bring directly to citizens”, she says.

Qosaj '% Mustafa considers Kosovo institutions have lost and are continuing to waste much time on the demarcation agreement with Montenegro, which according to her, these actions are wrong.

“Krahas demarcation has had to be worked on in other processes. Definitely, a prolonged orientation and this orientation has contributed to the failure of other and important decisions for citizens”, she points out.

Kosovo's sixth Parliament legislature since the constitution has conveyed numerous procrastinations and occasional work cuts.

Valmir Ismaili, analyst from nongovernmental organisation “Democracy Plus”, tells Radio Free Europe, that the current legislature looks the same as the past, where attention is not being given to issues which concern citizens.

The Convention is mainly dealing with several topics, if we can call them big ones, but they have no impact on the lives of citizens, but it is serving as good materials to politicians to make more politics than politics-making in Kosovo's public life. The demarcation is not a trivial matter, but it's been lost a long time with it”, Ismaili points out.

He even suggests that the situation created in the Assembly is responding to MPs themselves.

“Maybe this is fitting to MPs because to discuss various bills, they should be well prepared for issues that they'll have on the table, while on issues like demarcation, there's more folklore and patriotism about whether we can call them than there's substantial discussion”, Ismalili claims.

MPs from the sixth legislature's Kosovo Assembly have adopted only seven laws, while 52 bills, which await review, have been collected on parliamentary commissions.