LDK's Rukiqi: Government's unilateral decisions are jeopardising Allies' support

Democratic League of Kosovo Headship member Berat Rukiqi warns that actions, which he called unilateral, of Mr. Albin Kurti's government, risk Kosovo being left without the support of allies.

During his interview with Voice of America reporter Artan Haraqia last week as she participated in the morning prayer, Mr. Rukiqi says that the lack of co-ordination with the Allies for a host of issues, such as the founding of the Serbian majority municipalities, and now the decision to remove the Serbian dinar from use in Kosovo, risks the country to remain without support even in cases if Kosovo faced similar risks, such as that of the terrorist attack on Banjska.

Voice of America: The Central Bank's decision in Kosovo over the use of the Serbian dinar sparked a wave of diplomatic pressure for delaying the implementation of this decision. How should Pristina act in this case?

Berat Rukiqi: This is the 2012 decision and is also part of the Kosovo Constitution. Kosovo has a single currency, does not have a multi-valuative system. Kosovo has decided to accept the German brand for the post-war period and then transition it into the eurozone -- that is, the European monetary systems in the eurozone -- normally imposed the use of the euro as the only currency, and that is quite clear. Meanwhile, there has been a flexibility in terms of payments made to Serbian citizens, mainly payment coming from the government of Serbia. It is widely known that they receive, especially the health and educational system in the northern part of Kosovo, but also in the part where there are Serb communities, an additional wage, which has been on the dinar, which is the official currency of another country, which does not recognise Kosovo. We as a party do not comment on the decisions of independent institutions, the Central Bank is an independent institution, allegedly independent of different political and political influences. What we heard even at meetings with American officials is a friendly requirement that there be flexibility in the sense of implementation and that comes from a country that has done much for the country's sovereignty and is normally not interested in affecting at any moment any sovereign decision and no action guaranteeing the country's sovereignty in each field, including the share of the monetary system associated with the use of currency. It was their decision and we didn't normally comment on it because it's something that's re-focused and turned into attention one thing that's necessary to implement, today or tomorrow, that should be monetary policy in this case.

Voice of America: What does flexible mean?

Berat Rukiqi: Time freeness, meaning a transitional period which then enables the extension of Kosovo's financial institutions in the northern part and in the part where there are Serb communities and normally creates space, so that the payments are made in Kosovo's official currency to financial institutions that are licensed by the Republic of Kosovo, respectively by the Central Bank.

Voice of America: Your party has demanded that Mr. Kurti's government have co-ordination with the international community, especially Washington. If this request is made now, for flexibility as you say, do you think this decision should be postponed? How would you act if you were in power?

Berat Rukiqi: There is a growing concern for, in general, Kosovo's unilateral decisions. We are at the moment when we have all the allies behind us, especially after the situation created by the terrorist attack in Banjska, we have had a alignment of all allies in support of Kosovo, in support of Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity and in support, especially in terms of security for Kosovo. So, the part where we are very sensitive, the safeguarding of borders and the part that has to do with any kind of confrontation that we might have with any aggression or with an attack that could be of the size of the terrorists and not have the rest that followed the attack, co-ordination with the Allies, of course the consequences for security and integrity of the country would be very serious and normally these kinds of co-ordinations in terms of security are also required in other parts, and that's the concern, that there is no co-ordination before any decisions are taken that affects the most attention, where the rights of the country are reflected and the rights of the Serb community are reflected. We think that we as Kosovo should take this attention, no matter how much we have, allies in this geopolitical context and turn it to benefit our processes, to the benefit of our country's security, to the benefit of integration, to the benefit of foreign policy, not only recognition that is institutional and membership in international organisations, but also to the removal of sanctions since we should not forget that Kosovo is under sanctions and damages are continuing and that it can be multiplied if we do not involve in new financial packages, or in new packages of growth of the European Union as well as there are warnings. All of this, we as a political party take as serious concerns of allies and normally say it openly in the sense that Kosovo can take every step in defence of territorial integrity and sovereignty only in co-ordination with allies. We were extremely enthusiastic and happy that the United States pre-advanced because we certainly should approve of Congress for Jávelin systems, but normally we should also be communicative and open to other demands that they may have. And we should read this as their direct support, no matter what we buy them, without a direct two-party support in the United States, we wouldn't have this opportunity not to have many other countries. Let's read this as a signal that sometimes when they come with a request that is neither to violate the Constitution nor the law, but only one modulation of implementation that you actually understand both the interests of the Serbian community and the allies and others in this new situation that has been created.

Voice of America: The largest table on Kosovo is exercised around the establishment of the Association of Serb-run municipalities, whose draft status has come written by the international community. He was rejected by your party after being described as harmful. How can Pristina react to co-ordination with the international community if you disagree with something that has come down from the International Community itself?

Berat Rukiqi: We normally had pressure in the past. Before status, then during the discussion on status in Vienna and other processes we have been through, Kosovo institutions and Kosovo political representatives have received various documents and commented on them. So the most basic thing that should happen in these processes is to have communication and to have both remarks and differences.

Voice of America: You're still against the draft Association status?

Berat Rukiqi: To clarify, the first basic problem is why the Kosovo government failed to draw up a draft draft for itself, which then would be a basic document on the negotiating table. And a failure to listen to our friends' request and a lack of our constant recommendations, which we have to go with our option and our alternative on how the association, which is an international obligation, that no longer has to be created or not, caused a document to come up in its own format and take it or leave. This document, which came after the Ohrid Agreement, included elements of the Ohrid Agreement that completely alter the nature of even previous agreements.

Voice of America: Despite the international community's pledges that what they have offered does not violate Kosovo's sovereignty, do you think it is harmful?

Berat Rukiqi: I can say with full responsibility even from the meetings we have had here and other meetings we have had in Pristina and other countries, what is very clear is that this constitutional guarantee can only be provided by the Constitutional Court. There may be pledges that, in the sense of political implementation and approach in the future, this will not be a Republika Srpska, it will not be a third level of power, however, whether there are violations of the constitution and this alone does the Constitutional Court.

Voice of America: Earlier you mentioned the European Union's punitive measures towards Kosovo. What is the damage to these measures in Kosovo's economy?

Berat Rukiqi: We have the direct part of the impact. There are 300m euros of financial package support from the European Union for important projects in Kosovo, so let's not forget are a part of important projects in the field of energy and digitalisation, which then affect the youth sector, or affect various projects that could benefit Kosovo's youth. So it's very important as financial value. For a small economy and a developing economy, it is extremely damaging, especially in parts where we have no investment capacities. This is the first part: the second part is the indirect consequences. This has affected the loss of confidence in the Kosovo market. We have highlighted in our latest media presentations the element of lowering exports and there are indicators that part of 2023's reduced exports in the year 2022, of total value, is approximately 101m euros.

Voice of America: The World Bank predicted gross growth in domestic production in Kosovo for 3.9 percent in 2024 and 4 percent for 2025. How do you evaluate these predictions in the light of global developments?

Berat Rukiqi: There were even higher forecasts for the past year, and we ended up with one of the worst performance years in the economy. So if we take it out of the pandemic year, last year has been below the average that has characterized us after independence. It's been about 4 % from 2008 onward, outside of the pandemic year since it was an extraordinary year. This normally raises concerns. For Kosovo 4% is not enough. We aim, in the moment we govern, to have economic growth above 5% in order to have a new cycle of development which creates jobs and perspectives for citizens. Last year, the number of people estimated to be poor has increased. If taken in absolute value there are over 26 thousand who have been added to the list of poor. This has also been noted in the purchasing power, all the measurements we make, and make others see that the primary concern of the citizens of the country is the cost of living, prices, and inability to cope with the various costs they may have. Over 50% of a salary in Kosovo goes for basic spending. This is the highest in Europe, no country has that percentage. If we take the growth rates, politicians, government, power in this case uses them in their own way, manipulates them, extenuates them, but what is really seen in the economy is a crisis of purchasing power that then affects the overall cycle of economic growth, you see a liquidity crisis in companies, so there are companies that have problems in meeting the obligations they have with each other, and that's also an indifference that was manifested by an independent institute these days, and we see that we have almost three times overts of withdrawals and an apparent increase in loans. As this is translated into reality, citizens or businesses, unable to pay their bills, have used expensive but necessary funding solutions and have been overreachment and consumer loans.