Failure to implement recovery plan endangers businesses, government seeks to vote in Parliament

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Tahiri, until acknowledging that he has no political will to approve the draft law on economic recovery, says this plan is not electoral and neither political, so it should be voted.

Tahiri says this bill brings good to all citizens at this time of pandemic.

And we as a government coalition have not had parliamentary colleagues all there, but what I ask the MPs to be all together because this law is not electoral law, it is not political law, it is law that brings good to all Kosovo citizens in particular in time of pandemic. The idea is not to give anyone a finger, the idea is to see if we can get along with this law with which citizens, businesses, companies, and, above all, a large number of projects that help Kosovo... . This is about political will, political will does not exist and as such has failed”, Tahiri said.

MP from the Vetevendosje Movement ranks Mimoza Kusari-Lila says the government has been unable to establish a law that would address citizens' demands and cover their needs.

Kusari-Lila said that this government has been failing to realise the emergency fiscal package, so according to her, to demand the opposition vote for bills, it is without responsibility and the political immature of the government Hoti.

“Today the law is only identified with the possibility of attracting 10 per cent of the Trust of Citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, and on average over half of the contributors can be attracted no more than 40 euros, and in itself it is opening a door for further withdrawal from the Trust, then when it is intervened in law and second that this ruling coalition had no more than 40 votes. It means the government's responsibility to pass its laws is minimal or does not exist at all. And to be requested now and to reason not on ability and not on political reliance on opposition parties in a law that has not received appropriate public consultations, nor has it taken into account the needs of citizens is not only that without responsibility and political immatureness, but also from the responsibility they have taken. Still, this government has failed to realise some of the obligations that have emerged from the emergency package, that even 170 euros, which was meant by the government Kurti... today four months after they took over the government, are unable to make a package from the previous government. While, the economic recovery bill alone has the name for recovery, as nothing inside of the content that would affect economic recovery has left even the vote-free support of its deputies at“, says MP Kusari-Lila.

Representatives of the Odas have estimated that the economic situation is serious, and by not voting this bill is taking too many businesses at risk.

The executive director of the American Oda, Arian Zeka, says of Kosova Prees, that with the failure of the economic recovery bill, we are lagging behind in terms of supporting companies, risking not only their survival but also endangering jobs.

According to him, applying the previous measures to this law would have a positive effect on the economy and the country, but that their effects will be short-term.

Zeka referring to ATK data that companies in Kosovo have scored a 1 billion-euro drop, says these figures should be viewed with dramaticity on the part of decisionmakers.

And we're not really addressing the proportionally damage caused by the private sector, but not by the Fiscal Emergency Pack that we're really failing to live on we're actually falling behind in terms of support of companies risking not only their own survival but also their jobs, and especially in the sectors of construction that have suffered a huge blow from pandemic and of course other informal sectors where there are believed to be participation in jobs... It will, however, have a positive effect on the economy, whether we talk about 100m euros or 150m to 60m euros if they are withdrawn in general, if 10 per cent of the means saved by the Pension Trust can't contribute to the impact of injecting these tools into the country's economy, but of course the effects will be short term, as will the welfare of pensioners in the future”, Zeka said.

Economically aware, Safet Gerjaliu says the lack of political will for the draft economic recovery law will have negative chain effects on Kosovo's economy.

We will now witness that on the main streets of Kosovo we will see closed local sites where it will be written that the store is sold or rented. We're going to have a reduction in staff where there's a chance to do business, and all of this will harm Kosovo in many economic indicators. In the first place, there will be a decline in employment, in the second place we will have a decline in circulation, in the third order we will have a decrease in exports, and fourth order we will have an import increase, and this all damages Kosovo's image and perception even in the face of businesses, but also in the face of international partners. As countries in the region and the wider countries compete in how to support how to invent creative ideas for the citizens of the country, we also have these opportunities that we block for the sake of political interests and whims, Gerjaliu said.

The economic recovery bill failed to pass at this week's session, after the parliamentary group of Vetevendosje Movement and the Kosovo Democratic Party refused to become part of the vote. This bill had not even been adopted at the last session of August.