7 minutes agoThree groups blocking Kosovo Assembly operation
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)Divided into three groups of MPs, the Kosovo Assembly, is seriously jeopardising the functioning. The decision-making blockade in the Parliament has started since the beginning of this institution's mandate. But recently, divisions seem to have greatly paralyzed the highest legislature in Kosovo. Ruling parties, counting on Albanian and minority parties [...]
The ruling parties, estimated by Albanian and non-Serb minorities, make up a group of 49 deputies, which does not represent the majority. That fact is estimated to present a precedent, since the ruling coalition does not make up the majority in the Assembly.
Opposition parties, on the other hand, number 56 MPs, who also do not present the majority to challenge the government.
In the middle, however, lies the 10-member Serbian List group, which is listed in the Assembly as a separate opposition and votes only those laws and decisions that you see are in the interest of the Serb community as well.
Meanwhile, 5 MPs are without parliamentary groups.
Given this situation, neither power nor opposition can function either without an agreement or without agreement with the Serbian List.
The editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Koha Ditore” in Pristina, Agron Bajrami recalls that the ruling parties since the government's formation had faced minimum vote. While the opposition, he says, has a large number of votes, but it is not enough to challenge the government.
The number of votes of the ruling coalition in the country is on the margins of majority. On the other hand, we have an opposition who in numbers is strong, but does not have the power because it itself is not united. There are three opposition parties in the Assembly, which are not always on a line. This makes the whole nation dysfunctional in most cases”, Bajrami told Radio Free Europe.
The current situation in the Assembly, according to opposition MP from the Alternative, Mimoza Kusari Lila comes from the influence of President Hashim Thaci, who has on a part of MPs.
If the function of the state is seen, we are a dictatorial presidential state. Today everything in Kosovo is being decided with Hashim Thaci's dictatorship. He controls power as a whole, deputy positions, decides on his own in exchange for territories...”, says Kusari Lila.
Albanian political parties, both from power and opposition, have failed to establish a communication and co-ordination of work with MPs from the Serbian List, whose votes would, in many cases, be crucial to decision-making. The proximity of this List to Belgrade's official policy keeps Albanian political subjects at bay.
As a result of the actual situation without a majority in the Assembly, eventually the ruling parties failed to form the negotiating team for dialogue with Serbia. While the opposition failed to adopt the resolution to sanction Kosovo's president, the possibility that in dialogue with Serbia will open border change.
The chief of the Democratic Party of Kosovo Parliamentary Group, Memli Krasniqi, thinks most cannot play the game and agenda of the opposition.
It is pointless that the opposition agenda is an agenda we respond to, while the state agenda does not respond to”, Krasniqi says.
The Kosovo Assembly's sixth legislature is constantly facing a lack of quorum.
Vetevendosje Movement Parliamentary Group chief Glauk Konjufca thinks the Assembly is failing sessions because it is being boycotted by the majority.
In the Republic of Kosovo alone, the position, the majority, could boycott the Assembly hearings. This does not happen anywhere in the world”, MP Konjufca had expressed his surprise.
As such a stalemate continues, Agron Bajrami predicts that in the end, the solution could be sought again through early elections, as has been acted in the past legislature.
With this installation Kosovo can hardly work. This is not about the president who divided political parties, but has to do with the inability of political parties to build a principled position on issues that are priorities or of great importance. This will undoubtedly lead us to a moment when the crisis will again be needed to be resolved with new elections”, Bajrami points out.
As a result of low labour dynamics in the Kosovo Assembly, more than half of the laws that were before adopted at the spring session ʹ wine have been adopted for approval at the autumn session.
According to the Kosovo Democratic Institute, which monitors the work of the Assembly, during 2018 26 laws have been adopted, 48 are in the screening procedure, while another 62 in the legislative agenda are expected to be sent to the Assembly.
