PDK: Government to allocate 100m euros to military

Democratic Party of Kosovo headship member Besa Kabashi rahaj has said today at a media conference that the Kosovo government should allocate 100m euros for the military, taking into account the situation created by Russian aggression in Ukraine.

“We assess that it is completely legitimate and necessary, at this crucial moment to preserving peace and security, Kosovo must strengthen its military capacities. To respond to this need, the Democratic Party of Kosovo wants the government to bring it back within the next few weeks, in the short term but still within this month, the budget revision for 2022. Concretically, we demand from the Government that capital spending ahead of this year, which is estimated at 554m euros, get 100m euros and the same are designated for military needs.”, she said.

Under the circumstances Ukraine and Europe are under in general, The PDK estimates that there is no greater priority for Kosovo than strengthening defence and security capacities so that the Kosovo Army is willing to contribute to maintaining peace and security in our country.

Also, since Kosovo's path is very clear and our aspirations for NATO membership have budgetary implications, we ask that for every year, the state budget that is shared for our army, to grasp the country's minimum 2 per cent value, the NATO defence ministers' decision, which was taken in June 2006.”, Kabashi said Ramaj.

Kabashi-Ramaj said that since February 24th of this year, the dynamic of political and security developments has changed not only for Ukraine, but for almost all of Europe, and has a direct impact on the entire international security architecture.

This current crisis in the center of Europe, where Russian aggression against Ukraine is producing major damage, both in the loss of people's lives and in the violation of democratic principles and international order, is producing damage and direct consequences, not only for Ukrainian citizens but also very serious threats to peace and security in Europe and beyond. Unfortunately, no effort has been seen from the Russian Federation's side that may have a break, rather, there are disturbing statements and further deepen the crisis.”, she said.

Kabashi-Ramaj stressed that the transition of this situation could also affect political and security developments in our region and the Republic of Kosovo, although it has consolidated its citizenship and sovereignty, it can still be the goal of hostile claims.