In lack of government, budget solution falls on Parliament

The adoption of the budget is being seen as an emergency because of the risk of having the country plunged into a budget crisis by April 1st 2020. The first step the Parliament must take, according to civil society, is to form parliamentary commissions so that the actual budgetary framework is considered.

The incumbent government has prepared the budget proposal for 2020 and is ready as soon as required to proceed to the Kosovo Assembly.

Civil society representatives consider that the Assembly of Kosovo, which was constitutionalised at the end of December 2019, has the competence to exercise its legislative function, which, according to them, implies it can also adopt Kosovo's budget.

The director of the Group for Jury and Political Studies, Arbresa Loja, in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, says the Assembly has to form parliamentary commissions so that the budget bill can be proposed either by the outgoing government or the Parliament through legislative initiative, respectively.

With the government's resignation, any legal initiative becomes zero. Since we do not yet have an agreement reached by the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo for a governing coalition, the Parliament is due through the legislative initiative to propose, therefore to adopt the Kosovo budget”, Loxha says.

The Finance Ministry has already declared that on October 31st, 2019 it has submitted its draft budget proposal for 2020 to Government. But, the government has been in office and has not been able to proceed with its adoption as a bill that would be handed over after the Assembly.

The current or in office government is selected from the past composition of the Parliament that has already been disbanded and the new Parliament formed.

Lulzim Rafuna, adviser to incumbent Finance Minister Bedri Hamza, considers the government in resignations could proceed to the Parliament, the draft budget law. He says the Constitutional Court has not limited any competence of the government. On the contrary, proceeding of the bill could be initiated either by Commissions, Parliamentary Groups or even MPs, he says.

The government, currently in office, according to the Constitutional Court's decision has not been contested by status. And we don't have any laws or regulations that recognize the government definition of resignation or government in office. All of this is resulting from lack of government law. The government, after the Constitutional Court ruling, is making decisions and is never contesting decision-making”, Rafuna points out.

On 19 July, Ramush Haradinaj has resigned from the position of Kosovo prime minister. His resignation followed the invitation he had received from the Kosovo Special Court with headquarters in The Hague, where he was invited for an interview in the quality of war crimes suspect.

Later, Haradinaj was addressed to the Constitutional Court with the request to define responsibilities during the time he and the outgoing government would operate in resignation.

Kosovo's Constitutional Court has singled out Haradinaj's request for the interpretation of the competencies and functioning of the government following the prime minister's resignation.

Trusting that even with the government in resignation, the Assembly can approve the budget, Rafuna says that with the creation of the new government, it can at any time review and improve the budget.

The next “government, out of anyone created, is likely to review and regulate the Kosovo budget” at any time, he points out.

Some unions in Kosovo have called on the prime minister in office to submit the 20120 budget bill to the Assembly, with the aim of avoiding social unrest.

These concerns, representatives of the United Trade Union for Education, Science and Culture, the Federation of Kosovo International Health Union and Police Union, have voiced them after meeting with Kosovo Parliament Speaker Glauk Konjufca, demanding that he engage in the legal steps for budget approval.

In a Kosovo Assembly communiqué, President Glauk Konjufca has reportedly stressed that he is working for the quickest construction of institutions, thus paving the way for the adoption of the Law on the budget.

He has stressed his maximum commitment to reaching a solution that would avoid the risk of wage-free waste of public sector employees.

Currently, with legal authorisations, the Finance Ministry has made the extension of budgetary allocations and access to means for budget organisations for the first two months of 2020. As for March, it is believed that only the Parliament could decide on the continuation of this decision or the extension of budgetary divisions.

This is the final time allowed for budget spending, and there is no other legal instrument for budget cuts to be extended more than three months, so no later than March 31, 2020.

After that date, Kosovo enters into a budgetary crisis, as no budgetary organisation or other public authority can authorize any spending or payment until the new Law for budgetary divisions is adopted.