The Challenges Kurti Government Will Face

According to them, even the choice or not of the candidate proposed by the country's Vetevendosje Movement for president, Vjosa Osmani, will be one of the challenges, which will soon determine whether the new government will continue work or the country will go back to early parliamentary elections.

The new Kosovo government, with Prime Minister Albin Kurtin, on Monday, 22 March, has received the mandate from the Kosovo Assembly to govern the country.

The issue of the coronary pandemic and economic recovery has been promises during the new prime minister's election campaign, Kurti, which has been said to be handled with priorities by his government.

He has said that within the year 60 percent of the population will be vaccinated, while there will be ambitious fiscal intervention for economic recovery.

Life Krasniqi from the Kosovo Democratic Institute tells Radio Free Europe that these two issues, not only should they be priorities, but their address should be approached urgently. According to her, providing vaccines against Ovidius-19, but even all priorities related to pandemic, in terms of health and economics, require immediate intervention of the government.

“on the health side is providing vaccines and an assessment of where we are. We know that the number of infected is increasing, and that means there are more people going to hospitals. So it should be viewed in a health sense where we stand and what we should do in that direction. On the other hand, in terms of the economy, there is economic support that should be given to the private sector, but also to the package of recovery, which should already be part of the future government, to see how the country's economy” reactiti said.

She added that over the next 100 days, the government must complete the boards and institutions, set out the frames related to how organised crime and corruption will be fought, how to work in the field of rule of law, as well as its position on foreign policy.

Pukariz, professor at the Department of Journalism at the University of Pristina, in a conversation with Radio Free Europe, estimates that the provision of the vaccine against Covid-19 will depend on the government of Prime Minister Kurti, though the solutions are already scarce and minimal, taking into account, as he says, that now in the world it is developing the so-called “diplomacy of the vaccine”.

He stresses that economic recovery, but also dialogue with Serbia will be the main challenges the Kurti government will face during the first 100 days of governance. However, the first task, according to him, is to address the issue of pandemic, already that the number of infected persons is marking growth.

The “appears to be the result of the uncontrolled election campaign and uncontrolled gatherings. Then, in this regard, there is also the very serious challenge of economic recovery, the coverage of the effects of pandemic, which are now lasting for more than a year. While the third and most serious challenge for this kind of government, for this form and profile of government led by Mr. Kurti é is dialogue with Serbia, respectively, the format of this dialogue and dynamics, which will be defined, not by Kosovo, but by Kosovo partners”, Pajarizi stressed.

President's choice, breaking spears between power and opposition

However, these will not be the only challenges Prime Minister Kurti's government will face very soon. Whether or not the newly elected government will continue the mandate will depend on the election or not to the country's president, for which position Vetevendosje Movement has proposed Vjosa Osmani.

She has been a front-runner since Hashim Thaci's resignation in early November 2020 and until March 22nd of 2021, when new Kosovo Assembly Speaker Glauk Konufca has also taken the position of a presidential task officer.

Life Krasniqi says the issue of electing Kosovo's new president has to do directly with two-thirds of the votes of the 120 Kosovo Parliament deputies, which will have to secure the ruling majority, to elect the candidate proposed by it.

So if the president's election or the challenge is not exceeded, then it is known that the country will go to early elections. Of course it is a challenge, with which this government will immediately face”, Krasniqi said.

Breaking the spears between power and opposition in the Kosovo Assembly, according to Professor Pajarizi, is expected to happen precisely on the issue of electing the country's new president.

According to him, if there is no interference from the international factor, for this issue to be resolved, then the country will enter political and institutional crisis, because, as he says, the president's “election will not be the result of constructiveness or co-operation between political subjects”.

The political subjects, today's opposition, were unwilling to vote on the Kurti government. On the other hand, Mr. Kurti was a little arrogant, in terms of the dominant numbers. In that sense, I don't see any solution inside, since the Democratic League of Kosovo is the main factor in this issue I don't think it would win much if it voted Mrs. Osmani. But even if you were to go to the elections, it would still be. The LDK) guilty, let's say, of bringing the country into the election”, Pajarizi stressed.

Otherwise, experts on constitutional issues are divided over whether there will be a new chairman of the new six-month term as the president's task leader or the same one should complete it on 5 May.

Former Constitutional Court member Kadri Kryeziu estimates the new chairman of the assembly will have a six-month interim mandate.

However, with that agreement, former Constitutional Court Chairman Enver Hasani, who says the six-month term ends 5 May and has no additional mandate.

On March 22nd, Kosovo's Assembly introduced the new composition, following early parliamentary elections on February 14th. The same day, with 67 votes for, 30 against and no abstention, the assembly elected the new government, led by Albin Kurti of the Vetevendosje Movement.