In the state with the highest number of unemployed, public administration is mired in political employment

The political impact on the employment process of senior officials in administration has been raised as one of the remarks also from the European Commission on the annual enlargement package, which defines the progress the countries have made aimed at integration into the European Union.

Dardan Abazi, researcher at the Institute for Development Policy, INDEP in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, says politicisation has affected the entire public administration in Kosovo and all reforms, according to him, is hostage to those people.

Depoliticisation of public administration, Abazi adds, has not only to meet a standard but also to create an administration that will be effective and functional during the performance of services for citizens.

The more politicised the public administration, the weaker the services and the end of the day, we, as citizens, are suffering the consequences, because we are not receiving the quality services we pay for. Politisation has affected the entire public administration in Kosovo and all reform is a hostage to these people, who also don't work properly, but have also charged public administration”, Abazi says.

The United Nations Development Programme in Kosovo (UNDP) continued in published reports has stressed that family ties, bribery and party ties are factors that greatly contribute to ensuring a public sector job in Kosovo.

According to a UNDP report, 78 per cent of respondents believe family ties, bribery and party ties and other unmerited factors are more useful in securing a job. Only 22 percent believe that education, experience, and professional skills are the main criteria for public sector employment.

Visar Rushiti from “Democracy Plus” stresses that appointing people to senior leadership positions and without merit is one of the biggest problems hindering public administration reform.

The procedure in public administration reform is also inadequate appointments, and this issue is also recorded in the Progress Report. I believe we've had different cases that we've seen, and the progress report itself is based on those cases. One of the cases is the head of the Secretariat of the Kosovo Agency for Comparison and Verification of Property”.

However, not only in senior leadership positions, but in other positions in civil service, other professional categories -- whether at high levels of governance, the phenomenon of labels and recruits of people without merit and public competition -- has become a common phenomenon in Kosovo.

The appointment of members on public enterprises' boards in Kosovo is one of the processes that have been constantly criticised by civil society in Kosovo, and recently by the international factor.

The United States and Great Britain had reacted to the appointment by the Assembly of Kosovo, Naser Shala, in the position of the head of the Kosovo Secretariat of Comparison and Verification of Property.

The ambassador of Great Britain to Kosovo, Ruairi O'Connell, has resigned from the position of chairman of the board of this agency, in recognition of Shala's appointment, considering he has failed to meet the criteria.

Dardan Abazi, researcher at the Institute for Development Policy, says Kosovo needs a legal empowerment and direct punitive measures for all who commit violation of the law and favour employment in public institutions of political members instead of professionals.

We need a prosecutor who will work independently and investigate all these cases, as we are dealing not only with violations of the law but also with violations of the country's Constitution, because we are a democratic society, which should respect the principle of equality before the law, but this is not happening. Citizens of Kosovo are not all being treated equal to”, Abazi says.

Otherwise, the most popular employment countries in Kosovo continue to remain public enterprise boards, due to high value of salaries and other benefits.

In any competition, the number of applicants is huge, but in most cases, according to civil society, it has not been taken on professional, but party affiliation.