Ismaili: Government manipulated with children and pensioners because it shared the money with KED

Democratic Party of Kosovo deputy leader Uran Ismaili has asked the Kurti Government and the Energy Regulatory Office to lower the electricity price for Kosovo citizens.

Ismaili, at a media conference, said doubled or tripled monthly bills, or even higher energy that citizens have accepted this week, are unfair and affordable.

And therefore, it is imperative that the Government, along with the ZRRE, urgently begin the process of reducing the price of electricity, and be held accountable before the law to all acts that have abused the situation in the energy sector. Because, continuing energy billing with current tariffs will be devastating to families in Kosovo”, he said. According to Ismaili, raising the price of electricity has put citizens in the face of a major financial difficulty, spending it on the family budget before the holidays and insulating Kosovo families just to afford the month.

This month, we saw a government policy to help citizens. Those 58m euros, which were earmarked as government subsidies for children and pensioners, are evidenced in fact to have been separate means for KED. Citizens have only been used as mediators in this planned transaction. The enormous energy bills are evidence of this harmful and manipulated policy. At a time when Kosovo citizens, under this government, have become even more impoverished, with 19% of them under the poverty threshold, they are being forced to pay even the most expensive electricity bills”, he added.

Ismaili recalled the two conflicting statements by Prime Minister Kurti, that in 2015, the poorest citizens in Europe are paying the most expensive electricity bills, as well as the 2022 that electricity has been so cheap that citizens have not known what they pay. “Ani why they have the same resource, these two statements spread not only the change from the ruling opposition, but the goal of this government to double the energy price for Kosovo citizens. So there is a direct government responsibility for the difficult situation in which today's citizens are, which comes from the scandals and policies of this government in energy”, he said.

He also recalled that with the ruling Kurti Government, Republika Kosovo Ambassador to Croatia Martin Berishaaj is involved in the largest regional power trade and money laundering scandal, the second rise of 15.4 %s has first doubled.

This government, although today the price of energy on the international stock market has dropped from an average of 300 euros in the past year to 21 euros per megawatt today, yet has not made a decision to lower the energy tariffs for our citizens, but have maintained the current high prices. This government has given 113m euros of our taxes to pay the Serbs' energy in the northern part of the country. This government has done nothing to build new energy production capacities. Instead, it has also given up the American gas project, which would greatly help the country's energy security, resulting in Kosovo's family economies. In the end, this Government, unfortunately, has nothing to do with it, neither plans nor finds support for family economies and local energy production. The high electricity barrier will be paid for a long time to the citizens of our country”, Ismaili stressed.