Mustafa: We don't give PDK a second chance

The House distribution hearing is scheduled on August 22nd, and the LDK has already deposited votes for the motion.

The chairman of this party, Isa Mustafa, in an interview for Economy Online, says they are determined to disperse the Parliament and go to new elections, in order to form a legitimate government that deals with topics which, according to him, have been recorded during Haradinaj Government.

“We like LDK stand firmly within what should be distributed the Assembly should go to new elections. A government with civic legitimacy and a government to deal with issues that have been imposed during this period of time and for which we have internal pressure, more economic issues on the rule of law enforcement issues. But also on the issues of dialogue and European integration for which we have the demands of our international partners, but we also have our own internal needs because that's where our future”, Mustafa says.

Mustafa has denied speculation that there has been pressure from the international factor for creating a technical government. He even says that at any meeting he has had with accredited ambassadors in Kosovo, the need to respect the will of political parties has been stressed to go to early elections.

We didn't have the request until August 3rd, when we were behind the LDK Convention, nor after August 3rd when we had contact with diplomatic foreign representatives. In my office these representatives have stated that they will respect the will of the deputies of the Republic of Kosovo, the will of political subjects in Kosovo over whether to go to new elections, or is supposed to reconfigure this government. But I have seen that each one of them expects to go to new elections because everyone has talked more about the need for elections to be organised in a good way, be transparent elections to be fair elections to develop an internal democracy during this election process, and that immediately after the election ends, we go as quickly as possible in forming the new government. Because there are issues that await us and that we don't have time to delay”, Mustafa says.

Asked about possible pre-election coalitions, the first LDK says the will to membership of this party is to go to the polls on its own. He says the big parties would do well to compete alone, as it is the only way to prove real power. But the situation will change if other parties decide to go into pre-election coalitions.

I can say that right now we don't have a clear definition regarding the coalitions, because it's a principled attitude of LDK, which is oriented around where it's good to go apart to the elections, that these parties that consider themselves to be the dominant party of democracy in Kosovo go apart and measure before citizens to get their support, and in this form not only will we be told who is the most confident party before citizens, but we will also assume the responsibility of the country. But if others do not abide by this rule, of course, that we too will reconsider our position in this regard, and see who we can rule with and solve problems that are very present and that are ahead of us”, Mustafa says.

Mustafa has also commented on meeting with Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti and the possibility of a pre-election coalition with this party. He says he hasn't talked about such a topic, since they've agreed that to bring up attitudes, they have to create technical groups.

“We have not specifically talked about coalitions because we have agreed that, for coalitions, there should be conditional talks between technical groups of political subjects in order to see all the preconditions for the coalition and so that it should be placed in the LDK bodies now talking about properties that take the stance for coalitions, is the LDK General Council”, he says.

Asked whether LDK would accept Albin Kurti for prime minister, Mustafa says they have not yet discussed such an opportunity, while saying the LDK is determined to lead with the next government.

We didn't talk about the prime minister. But the will of the LDK is also that the LDK will enter the elections to have its prime minister, because we appreciate that we are not only the biggest party that comes from public opinion but also on the basis of the deputies we now have at the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo on the basis of the municipalities in which we govern, of course this is not a legacy that is permanent heritage, but that we believe we have very good people prepared to govern the country because even in the past government we have shown that we are able to rule in the country in which other areas are not to be governed, he says.

He says there are a lot of topics that need to be co-ordinated with the VV, but they don't accept or set conditions. He acknowledges they have different views about their solution, including dialogue, economic development, privatisation, etc. The terms we're going to talk about not expressly or effectively about conditions because it's not good to put conditions on each other, but there are some issues that we should jointly show good will for, is the question of dialogue. We will see how together we can proceed, or we can develop dialogue. It's the issue of economic development to reduce unemployment, employment and are issues related to our economic system. And I think that there will be no problem in finding common language in the development of the privatisation sector, employment free initiative, but also the best corporate management of public companies. There are other issues related to dialogue, which have nothing to do with changing borders, whether Serbia or other countries, because we are very clear there, it is also very clear the country's Constitution, so we will not set conditions in this respect, but the constitution is and conditions are the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo”, he says.

As for the post-election coalitions, Mustafa says that “red” only have towards the PDK, which says it will not give a second chance to co-government. While with other parties, it says they will talk about the possibility of bringing the governing programme together.

“We respect the will of the membership and will of the LDK bodies, the will of the areligious establishment is not that we should coalition with the PDK, and the will of the LDK structures neither branch nor other structures is against this, so we have no reason to coalition with the PDK with a party that has violated the coalition agreement with us that has proved to support violent demonstrations, violent strikes, violent structures against our government, even though it has been part of the government and has been organized along with the government, so we don't give them a second chance, so we don't give them a second chance. The PDK is neither individually nor as LDK”. With other parties we will talk, we will not set borders, we will talk about what best we can do in future elections and in future governments, so that we can govern in a form to restore what has been destroyed so far in Kosovo, in the governing view, and put new lines that are necessary, to put into perspectives the development of relations with the European Union, and to make decisions that are not easy, but which we should take into a government that is a broader pretend and more stable Mustafa2> says.

Despite acknowledging that the tax on Serbia is set for personal and party interests, Mustafa insists it should not leave. He says that if the LDK leads with the new government, it will impose reciprocity on Serbia.

I think tax work has received an out-of-text cootation for which it's set. The tax has been imposed on economic issues formally, it is really put as a cover for the failures the past government has had in order not to say someone who is failing the government that imposed a tax on Serbia. But now it's like a room tax. Now we have to deal with the tax, it's not a tax that needs to be lifted in a day. Serbia is told that we remove the tax, because Serbia is taking action against Kosovo's state against the Kosovo economy against the free circulation of Kosovo citizens and goods, and we will implement the reciprocity criteria, we will mutually continue to keep measures against Serbia as Serbia holds against Kosovo. If Serbia removes all of Kosovo's non-tariff tariff barriers, those of the free movement cut the interference in Kosovo's citizenship in recognition of Kosovo and does their jobs and creates a climate for us to sit down and talk about this issue, but in no case the tax does not go off unconditionally”, he says.

Mustafa says Serbia should no longer be given any chance, dialogue must continue unconditionally, in order to reach a final agreement between the two countries.

I think Serbia's chance is for Serbia to lift the tax condition. It must withdraw from this condition and dialogue cannot develop under conditions, dialogue should be unconditionally resolved, there should be mutual will, to discuss issues that we can agree on so that we can reach the final agreement by mutual recognition, other issues then remain issues that then remain on the way, but if pre-emptive conditions are set then the dialogue is difficult by one side and another”, Mustafa concludes.