Civil Code, MD: It will be prosecuted when we make sure it has support in the Parliament

On March 16, 2022, the civil draft vote was in order of the day, but it failed to get through the first reading. At the moment of the vote, there were 77 deputies in the hall, of whom 29 voted against, 28 for, 4 abstained, while 16 did not participate in the vote.

Although several deadlines had been given, the code was no longer prosecuted in the Assembly for more than two years. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has made some changes, but Minister Haxhiu has declared that “has not convinced that they can proceed to the Kosovo Parliament if they are not convinced it could pass”.

In a response to Gazeta Express, from the Ministry of Justice, they have said the draft for the Civil Code is ready until they added they would proceed to the Parliament when there is support.

“Sic is aware, Civil Code draft is ready. It is important that the same pass into the Assembly, so it will be prosecuted when we make sure that there is support in the Kosovo Assembly”, said the MDė response to the Express.

Days earlier, Prime Minister Kurti has said that “will personally build a parliamentary majority” for voting this draft code, which finds a strong refusal in the party MPs he leads.

Kosovo will soon aim to become the second country in the Western Balkans, after our neighbours, Montenegro, offering its citizens the right to civil unions of the same sex. We will work hard to overcome this in the very near future”, Kurti said during a speech in the footnote of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe's founding, organised by Germany's Social Democrat Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

For this I will personally build a parliamentary majority and call for broad support from opposition parties. The government's meeting decision on the issue has already been taken”, he said.

One of VVA's deputies opposing the draft code is Eman Ungumman. Finally, he has said the number of MPs to vote against has increased.

“Po Prime Minister Kurti took care of this two years ago, we had discussions in the Parliamentary Group among MPs, but these are the positions of MPs, who decide how to vote on specific issues. As for the Civil Code, I believe that whenever it comes there will be more votes against it than there were two years ago, in relation to it. At least because of the discussions I've had with MPs, there are deputies who have voted pros last time and are now against”, he has said of Gazeta Blic.

The Terms Forgotten

Some important people of power, at different times, had given different deadlines for when civil draft code would be processed in the country.

The head of the Vetevendosje Parliamentary Group, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, had said in early September 2022 that this draft code would be sent back to the Assembly in the fall.

“Projectcodi comes back in the autumn, an important document, second after the constitution in the report of the citizens' birth to death... Before October, I don't think there's a theoretical chance”, he'd declared Kusari Leela in an interview on show <x2. > DPS at Fidan” in T7.

While Parliament Speaker Glauk Konjufca had mentioned the period prior to the 2023 year as the deadline for voting this draft.

I think before New Year's, that's what the words were. Let's see. To be honest, it's not just a majority responsibility, and I don't even think it should be. We're talking about long-term value orientation. You're gonna set them up, you're gonna have standards that you can do with them, you can fix that whole thing, but not with... because it's human rights”, he declared Conjufca at RTV Duagjini on December 8, 2022.

Meanwhile, about a year ago, the Justice Ministry had told Gazeta Express that “very quickly” the civil draft will be prosecuted for voting in the Kosovo Assembly.

The Civil Code “is a priority for the Justice Ministry and of particular importance to the legal system in Kosovo. Soon, the completed Civil Code, with all addresses being processed for approval in Government and later at the Kosovo Assembly. Kosovo's government for each bill, but even this Cod project will discuss with the Assembly the content and regulation it made in the future Code”, a response last March said.

Meanwhile, Minister Haxhiu said in August last year, after a government meeting, that “within this year [2023] to prosecute both the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Code”.

She had declared that they are working with MPs so that the code does not fail when it goes to the Assembly.

On this subject, at a media conference in January of this year, Minister Haxhiu has spoken. She said the civil draft is in legislative agenda, but added that “cannot say with certainty when expected because it depends on whether they have votes. ”

She said that the civil code “is very important for the Government of the Republic of Kosovo”.

“We are in maximum effort to pass, in communication with the MPs of our parliamentary group I cannot say for sure today that we do or do not, yet I am optimistic that the moment we proceed will pass. Here is the responsibility of the opposition, because they are saying they are representing Kosovo citizens, if so, then they must vote laws that serve citizens”, Haxhi said at the January 10, 2024 conference.