Opposition even with an effort for Trust, power has changed attitude

Kosovo Assembly MPs on Thursday (January 19th) will decide whether citizens will be allowed to withdraw up to 30 per cent of financial means from the Pension Trust

Such a practice was implemented in 2020 during the time that the country was run by Avdullah Hoti citizens had attracted 10 percent of the funds saved by the Trust.

The attempt to repeat this almost two years later failed, on March 24, 2022, when the Parliament failed to give the green light to the Trust bill. This idea did not die, civic initiatives have since continued to operate and was discussed in the Assembly.

In this regard a petition was launched, which has so far collected over 17 thousand signatures, tells of Gazette Express, Adnan Jashar.

Yasar, who has initiated the petition, says he expects Kosovo deputies to reflect -- that is, vote in favour of withdrawing from the Trust.

“We hope to vote and have no idea what then because citizens will express their revolt and then we will see what our actions will be”, he said.

And the mastermind of this idea in the legislature's ranks, Bekim Haxhiu, does not even want to think that the bill will not pass.

He says it's prejudice to say that “the bill will not be voted”.

In a proposal for Gazeta Express, Haxhiu has stated that there are also deputies of the Vetevendosje Movement who will hear the civic demand to vote the trust.

“I cannot speak in the name of those deputies, but there are also those who have been declared in favour of the vote”, Haxhiu has said.

The Vetevendosje movement has given no signal that has changed its position on the subject.

Even the leader of this party, Prime Minister Albin Kurti in June, had personally dealt with Bekim Haxhi.

While talking about the trust site again, Kurt had told Hagi that he is not an economist to handle it.

“The state finance issue, the question of the future in the economy, has a strong professional dimension, requires a lot of experts and economists to consult before you say anything, because it's only by talking that you do harm and leave it doing. That's why I want to know who you consulted about this, because you're not in the field. I'll come here to the session even with the utmost respect I'll listen to you when, for example, you take the initiative of the Mass Bill, but the Trust Bill makes no sense, this work”, Kurti said on June 23rd in the Kosovo Assembly.

Such a statement by Kurti had been named” the arrogance of Prime Minister“, but the same is now being said by Besnik Tahiri, chief of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo parliamentary group (AAK).

Tahiri says the argument of the power that attracting the trust does not help most of society is <x0Herrogence”.

He has also warned legal action if the trust does not pass to the Parliament, the day after tomorrow.

“Vota pro-trust from the Kosovo Assembly under these circumstances is the vote of people in need, I expect from the parliamentary majority to reflect by Thursday because otherwise this government is acting against the people of Kosovo with the vote it has received from the people”, Tahiri has said. “We will see all other options, be they of legal initiative, be it those of organization with all political organisations”.

The Trust Bill

The bill has come as a result of the Democratic Party of Kosovo initiative (PDK). Exactly, MP Bekim Haxhiu has postponed this case.

This bill does not predict the attraction of 30 percent of the brain for all social categories indiscriminately.

Contributors with less than 10,000 euros in pension contributions will have the right to withdraw 30 per cent of savings.

And those who have up to 20,000 to 30,000 euros can get more than 25 percent of their means. Meanwhile, the rich category of over 30,000 euros receive 15 percent of the brain.

Fewer will be available to attract those whose trust accounts for over 40 thousand euros. Just 10 percent of the attraction.

Kosovo has practiced this policy

It was 2020 when the country was facing an economic crisis because of the government's insulating measures due to the risk of the pandemic COVID-19. To alleviate the crisis, the executive then led by Avdullah Hoti had decided to make Trust available to citizens by allowing the withdrawal of 10 percent of all means.

Over 427 thousand citizens have used this right to enable the economy to circulate a capital of 198m euros.

This policy, according to the GAP Institute, has affected 40 percent of the 2021 economic growth in dual numbers.

Meanwhile, according to the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK), the annual inflation rate, calculated in March 2022, compared to March 2021, was 10 percent.