VVA: The minimum wage had to be 450 euros, rejection of Iron Murati recklessly

More than 365 days or a year have passed since the Kosovo Government exactly approved the draft Law on the minimum wage in the first place. The Government's proposal, led by Albin Kurti, was that the minimum wage in Kosovo should be 264 euros.

A year after, all that has remained the proposal and that the draft law on the minimum wage has passed only one procedure in the Kosovo Assembly . But a year later, things seem to get worse.

Albin Kurti of Iron Murati is thinking of pulling this bill from the Kosovo Assembly, turning it to zero point. After a year of the draft law having been “ka mrised” the offices of the Kosovo Assembly, it was an MP of the very ruling party that has insisted several times for him to be brought to the Commission for Buz and Transfere, where there was a proposal that the minimum wage is 450 euros.

The proposal as such received sufficient votes in the Commission at the moment that the proposal for the minimum wage is 264 euros gross and that the failure of war veterans to join the law had caused the latter for hours to block Kosovo's Parliament's entry last year, so that the deputy of the Vetevendosje Movement can enter the assembly.

365 days later, Kosovo Liberation Army war veterans have no doubt concluded why this law has not been passed on second reading. Political parties that are part of the Kosovo Assembly have had different proposals about how much the minimum wage should be in Kosovo.

Someone had proposed 350 euros, someone 370, someone else 450, but none of the opposition's proposals had been passed on to the commission. An economics professor has mentioned in detail what the minimum wage is in the region's countries and has thus proposed to the Government of Kosovo that it be the same as in surrounding countries.

There are some 60 thousand people in Kosovo who continue to receive the minimum wage based on the current law, which falls in the months to receive 130 to 170 euros in salary. From the private sector, they have said the proposal for 450 euros' minimum wage a month would be reasonable for covering the cost for a month for a family.

But what happened is that the Minister of Finance and Transfers, Iron Murati, go so far as to state publicly that the minimum wage bill can be withdrawn from the Assembly at the Government's request.

It was exactly a proposal by Vetevendosje MP Eman Candman for the 450-euro minimum wage to be passed on to the commission for budget and transfers. As such, the proposal had received enough votes to be submitted to the Parliament's Headship and then prosecuted for voting in the Parliament.

Iron Murati had not liked either the proposal for 450 euros or the passage to the commission in the Transfera budget for the fact that Eman Canman often has opposing stances and differences with the party he belongs to, and that the government has the country's Vetevendosje Movement. Eman Candor for Expose, has provided details about why this bill and its efforts are being delayed so that he can come to the polls for the vote.

If the minimum wage is not 450 euros, according to people leaving Kosovo to Western countries will be in alarming numbers. I am thinking too late and the delay has been due to the Government's attempt to agree with war veterans to reach an agreement, but the delay has been one of my concerns, where I have been asking for more than a month for the chairman of the commission to put him in line of day and at the commission's meeting to be handled and processed for second reading in the Kuka”.

After two demands, the chairman has accepted and brought it to the Parliament, where we have discussed and proposed our amendments and proposals as deputy and commission members, which some have passed and we are waiting for this bill to be processed in the second reading framework. My proposal has been that the minimum wage is 450 euros gross because I think we're in a situation where we should all be, regardless of political orientations, or opposition, together about a commitment to prevent young people from leaving the country. And today we see in most of the countries, the locals that are setting up the sitters where they are looking for workers and the problem is going to be bigger in the future, if we don't take, maybe even radical steps of raising minimum life in our country”, he says. According to him, compared to the region, we are far behind.

In Albania, the minimum wage is over 420 euros, Macedonia is 480 euros, and as a market we cannot survive by not offering minimum conditions to the workers, so I also proposed that the minimum wage be 450 euros gross, where at least it will be an economic survival, where each family with the income it creates is not comparing the states of Europe for the minimum wage, but at least compare to the countries around us. Today our country suffers for professional workers and serious companies, whether in service delivery or other occupational jobs, and needs in addition to our decisions as the Parliament and Government, I had called on private companies to start freezing wages so they can maintain their businesses. If this continues, even higher wages will be offered, but will find workers...”, he said. The minimum wage in Kosovo has not moved for more than a decade.

The increase in basic product prices has even heavier the lives of Kosovo citizens. For this and other factors, the VV deputy says all should be put together for the minimum wage-growing bill to be passed on second reading to the highest legislative body.

The approach against Minister Hekuran Murati's proposal for 450 euros, Cantman fully values non-feed and reckless. My commitment as an MP will be to make it possible for that institution to be passed and this law passed even in the Parliament and live, but the minister's reactions probably even from his position have given such conclusions, which for me have not been well-pleased and reasonable, because the minimum wage has not increased since 2013 more than ten years. If we take inflation for ten years, it's too high, the cost of living has doubled or tripled since the minimum wage has been raised, so if all factors are taken it would be the least we can do, there are no health insurances, there are many issues that force us to take such actions to ensure a survival. We're not looking for luxury workers or comfort... and today the 450-euro salary is not enough for a three-member family to cover monthly expenses and we have to be realistic, if we see, we pay our wages, the additions we get, I think most officials spend more car derivatives than a minimum wage in Kosovo, we have to overcome these...” this ruling party deputy. /Gazzeta Blic