Learning how many laws passed in January-April period

Ismet Krasniqi, secretary of the Kosovo Parliament, has told the Isinger newspaper that the number of laws adopted by the Assembly of Kosovo this year -- January 2018 to date is a total of 22.

“While 35 bills are in the screening procedure on parliamentary commissions”, Krasniqi has said.

According to him, there is an accelerated dynamic of adopting laws compared to the same period of past years. So in January-April 2014, 22 laws were adopted, in January-April 2015, only 5 laws, January-April 2016-10 laws, and last January-April 2017 were passed 16 laws.

Comment on the work of the Kosovo Assembly has also provided the European Commission in the latest progress report in Kosovo.

“Fradmentation and continued political polarisation have negatively affected the role of the Assembly and affected the government's effectiveness. Some actions unacceptable to a number of MPs during the reporting period, such as using tear gas, have interrupted parliamentary procedures. However, ratification of the border agreement with Montenegro in March 2018 was significant progress”, the report said.

Lack of laws is also hindering the country's economic development. Safet Gerjaliu, chairman of the Kosovo Economic Ode, says a better harmonisation of laws should be made, and this cannot be achieved without a greater commitment by Kosovo Assembly deputies.

It is true that we are stuck in the activities of the Kosovo Assembly, and what is most disturbing is the dominance of a political agenda. We have an agenda where in the last three years only three words have been mentioned: demarcation, association and liberalisation”, Gerjaliu said, adding that in the Kosovo Assembly “a paralysing of” activities.

The fact that we have such a small number of laws adopted in the Kosovo Assembly is the first concern. I want to believe that there must be a bigger update, because every strategy, every law for strategic investment and every fiscal economic reform needs acts and legal penalties, and in this direction due to a proper non-exploitation of the Kosovo Parliament, we are at this stage where we are. When we add all of this to the stages and the debate disk in the Kosovo Assembly, it is really a frustrating scene that harms the image of Kosovo”, Gerjaliu has said.

According to him, it is unforgivable the refusal of MPs, who receive salaries in the name of the people. Many adopted laws are translated by different European states, but that does not mean they will necessarily be functional in Kosovo. The talk of strategic investments is about economic areas and other economic processes, but all of this cannot be in place of development, since we often have conflicting laws. Therefore, there should be more legal harmonisation, but this cannot be achieved without a much greater commitment to those selected for the job”, Gerjaliu said.

According to him, what is most disturbing in Kosovo is the fact that it is thought more about the interests of political parties, placing them on state interests.

And it should be understood that above all is the state and we have to be in state function, and in this direction I think it's a wrong approach even of position that doesn't offer alternatives, but the only thing that you claim is that as an opposition you destroy position. I believe Kosovo needs unity and Kosovo MPs should be taught of constructive partnership”, Gerjaliu has said of Inseyer.

The Ministry of Finance reports that within the framework of the Labour Plan, it has included in its programme for 2018, including the drafting of the concept-document for handling the legal framework of taxes and procedures in the scope of the Tax Administration, in order to pave the way for the completion of three existing tax laws, as well as the drafting of the new Law on Tax Administration and Procedures. These changes will affect easing procedures and help businesses develop them.

This concept-document is also based on the Government of the Republic of Kosovo Programme for the period 2017-2021, as well as the National Strategy of the Republic of Kosovo for Prevention and Combating Unformal Economy, Money Laundering, Financing Terrorism and Financial Crimes for 2014-2018.

On the other hand, Albert Krasniqi from the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) has said that the Assembly of Kosovo, especially in the last two legislatures, has serious problems with organising its work.

He has said that the practice of holding plenary sessions on Thursday, as it is in advance even with the Parliament's Work Rule, has long since been ignored.

“Having no regular schedule for plenary sessions is failing the planning of parliamentary commission meetings and individual MP agendas. The next problem in the Assembly is the Labor Plan. This plan is never ignored, and its approval is made more than a commitment. Developing concrete work plans and rigorously ignoring them would affect the efficiency of the Parliament's” work, Krasniqi told the Insander newspaper.

In some cases, some of the laws have been reversed by the president of the country. So weeks ago, the country's president, Hashim Thaci, in support of Article 80 and Article 84 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, has made a decision to return to review the Trade Society Law, adopted on March 15th 2018 in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo.

Article 34 of Law No. 06/ L-016 for Trade Societys is not in accordance with Article 7, Article 24 and Article 119 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as with the Convention on Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, which, in accordance with Article 22 of the Constitution, applies directly to the Republic of Kosovo and has priority, in case of conflict, to the provisions of other laws and acts of public institutions.

Thaci estimates that the introduction of the gender-related quota only for the boards of directors of the stock societies, as was done in Article 34 of Law No. 06/L 016 for Trade Societys, excluding other kinds of commercial societies through which economic activities can be developed in Kosovo, narrows the sustainability of constitutional and legal guarantees for gender equality.