Why are experts and opposition opposing approval of the Law for Public Officials?

While there have also been reactions from opposition parties, warning that they will send him back to the Constitution. But from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they say the best European practices in terms of this bill have been followed.

Early in March, the government adopted the Bill for Change and Fulfilling the Law for Public Officials. But for this, there have been numerous reactions from both civil society and opposition parties. Emma Pula, from the Committee for Jury and Political Studies, has told Radio Kosovo that the entire procedure to adopt this bill has been untransparent. She stressed that such a process has been carried out in complete silence by not involving the acters and contrary to the rules and principles for public consultations, as the same has not been published on the platform for public consultations.

The third parties have basically had no information on the government's proposed changes and fulfillments. And in terms of content, the bill has not only failed to follow the bias or order specified by the Constitutional Court's act of judgment, the same goes against modern principles of public administration. This beginning with the fact that this bill excludes certain typical institutions from the field of action, which is contrary to SIGMA/ OECD” principles, he said.

According to Pula, the phenomenon of task makers remains disturbing.

The duration of the deadline until two years for task makers is a clear tendency for legalising this dangerous phenomenon. The same one has even predicted the mechanism for within just a month to adapt to the decisions of the current Uds so that this practice can be continued. Disturbing remains the removal of the minimum threshold that at least two candidates must meet the conditions for the top leadership level, resulting in competition breaching, as the main pillar of meritisocracy”, he has said.

Pula, presented several other concerns until she called on the government and the Assembly to start a new process of drafting public service policies in line with modern principles for public administration. Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Bardhil Dobra has told Radio Kosovo they have followed the best European practices in terms of this bill, until he commented on the Constitutional Court's decision.

Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court, which has dropped its essence in the act of September 12th, says that with the introduction of the Law for Public Officials, those who are recruited from now on, are recruited by a certain mandate, but those in those positions are still engaged in that privilege, which is clearly unjust to others and remain so. The introduction of my mandates all have a chance to raise you to a career. With the new law, that in 2022, the positions now announced are mandated, so it is an opportunity for new candidates to be promoted to a career and are mandated by”, Dobra said.

But, concerned is Ali Sefaj, representative of the Civil Service Union. He has told Radio Kosovo that he will follow all legal ways, with the aim of preserving and advancing the administration.

This conflicts with what the Constitutional Court has said and separately creates judicial uncertainty and creates arbitrary opportunities, claiming to seize the administration and destroy what has been achieved in the state administration for 20 years now. We will make efforts even through MPs to submit the application to the relevant parliamentary commission. And if there is no hesitation, we'll send the request to the ombudsman to counter the same with the Constitutional Court, since it was predestined to change some articles that unfortunately create the possibility of arbitration”, Sefay said.

And opposition parties have also reacted. The head of the AAK Parliamentary Group, Besnik Tahiri, has stated days ago that this law is dangerous for democracy and attack on state administration, until he said that if this bill is adopted this way in the Parliament, the opposition will again be forced to send to the Constitutional Court for review. Even the Justice Department co-ordinator in the Parliament for Good Governance in the PDK, Progress Gruda, has said the government has adopted this bill in opposition to the Constitutional Court's act.

In August 2023, the Constitutional Court had declared some provisions of this law to be unconstitutional. The Constitution had given way to the decree of this law, without provisions that were binding against the Constitution. In addition, according to this ruling, the Constitutional Court had imposed the constitution on the six-month term from the act's entry into force, to take all necessary actions to fulfil and amend the law in relation to provisions abolished by this court.

Meanwhile, in December 2022, The LDK and PDK had submitted it to the Constitutional Court, the Law for Public Officials. These parties estimated that the Law had a series of constitutional violations and that it was aimed at subjecting the public administration to power.

Following opposition parties in 2022, the European Union had also reacted until it stressed that the Kosovo Assembly has not taken their recommendations into account. The EU has said they will continue to monitor developments affecting public administration reform and will also be able to reevaluate their assistance in this area. “The EU laments that Kosovo's Assembly has adopted this law without taking into account EU and OECD comments/ SIGMA, in spite of SAA commitments in this area. The new law for public officials is problematic about ensuring a civil service based on credit that can effectively manage human resources, as it adds excessive freedom to the recruiting, transfer and discipline procedures of civil servants, making civil service potentially vulnerable to politicisation”, it is said in the EU response. / RTK

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