Government violates its decision, shares 13th salary for former delegations

Parting the 13th salary for employees in the public sector has sparked numerous reactions.

The executive has been criticised for having left out the private sector, as well as for injustice within the public itself.

At the 13th salary, the deputies of the 9th legislature, who were paid for nearly a year without doing any work, were also rewarded.

Their mandate ended at the end of last year.

And despite the March 30th government decision stipulates that to get the 13th salary, an employee must be on the March 2026 salary list, they were executed this additional salary. It was taken along with the transitor addition belonging to the ex-Deputes on their request.

The 13th 13th 13th 13th Paga belongs to all primary-paid employees, according to the March 2026 salary list, who are full-time employed and who have been employed for the past 12 months at a budget organisation”, says at the point 3rd of the Government's decision on the issue.

The 13th pay has also been taken by MPs who were re-elected in the December 28th election.

While the criteria of being on the March 2026 salary list have not been considered for newly retired employees, yes.

One of them is Agron Bislimi, who was a Judiciary Council official until February 2026 and now does not belong to a group of thousands who have received their 13th salary.

He has expressed disappointment that he did not receive this salary, especially after Prime Minister Albin Kurti has promised it as a reward for the work done in 2025.

Until February 1, 2026, I worked regularly without interrupting. I retired on February 2, 2026. Now, according to the prime minister's statement that 12 months of working, the regular worker gets his 13th salary, I plus worked another month in 2026 and now for what reason the prime minister himself knows that he gave the 13th pay statement”, Bislim said.

Bislimi calls it discrimination because he has not received the expected public sector wage.

The prime minister's statement stating who has 12 months full pay in 2025, I'm going to spend another month in 2026 and not get my 13th salary, the biggest discrimination he's got?

And the AAK's chief of deputies, Besnik Tahiri, has said that giving this pay is not intended to alleviate poverty, nor to reduce inequality.

The 13th salary for the public sector for 80 thousand people does not intend to alleviate poverty, nor to reduce inequality, is only a move that has been filed by a pre-electoral pledge and that, dayly, we can go to the elections can affect the vote. I tell all members of the government, it's taken to distribute the 13th public sector salary and not to help the private sector”, Tahiri has said.

The government has not answered the TIME questions about not including the 13th salary of some people who worked all year 2025 and are now retired, as is the case with Agron Bislem.

At the beginning of the week at the Government meeting, Prime Minister Kurti has said they are in preparation for a package against inflation, which will also be put to the aid of private sector workers.

The Government's decision on sharing the 13th salary for about 85 thousand public sector employees will cost the state budget approximately 75m euros.

The Government's decision to the move has also been criticised by civil society and trade unions.

At the GAP Institute, they said the government should provide support without exception to those with lower salaries.

Blendy Haysa, director of the GAP Institute, days ago said a more adequate intervention would be the implementation of such a move for all employees in the lowest-paid economy.

According to him, recent studies in Kosovo show that workers in the public sector are paid about 31 percent more per hour of work than those in the private sector.

The following has been criticism that public administration with us is overloaded with the number of employees, which has not even been addressed by the Kurti Government. Therefore, even the inflation problem in recent months turns out to have far more impact on private sector employees. A much more adequate intervention than this, since the Government has already decided to implement such a move, it would be to help all employees in the lower wages economy. Including private and public sector employees”, Haysa said on March 30th.

And the chairman of Kosovo's Independent Private Sector Union (SPSPK), Yusuf Azemi, had said that private sector workers should be involved in this decision as the filler of the state ark.

We are the employees we produce, while public sector workers are the ones who spend. And no irony: we enjoy the 13th salary for these workers, but extremely much pressure from private sector workers: why do they receive and we don't?

The criticism of the government has also made opposition parties and deputies, calling the decision to split the 13th salary only for the public sector, discrimination.