The leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, said he has no complaint about the egg-throwing incident involving Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) MP Time Kadrijaj.
Speaking to reporters after the tense parliamentary session, he said he was willing to pay even this price if it meant that the leaders of other political parties would agree to meet with him to resolve the issue of electing the country’s president.
“If having eggs thrown at me and having the prime minister’s jacket and trousers hit by eggs thrown by an MP is the price I have to pay for them to sit down and talk, I am happy to pay that price just to get them to the meeting. I do not complain that they throw eggs; I complain that they do not want to meet,” Kurti said after the postponed parliamentary session.
He again cited the lack of agreement as the reason for not proposing a candidate for Speaker of Parliament, warning that without a political agreement, the country would inevitably head toward new elections.
“We did not propose a candidate for Speaker of Parliament, even though we have the votes to do so. Since any constitution of the Assembly without a political agreement guaranteeing that MPs would remain in the chamber and vote for the President of the Republic would inevitably lead us to new, repeated, early, unjustified, unnecessary, and ultimately harmful elections, our insistence is, rightly and usefully, that we sit down, talk, reach an agreement, and only through the distance bridged by a political agreement and the breadth of an agreement between me, as leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, and the leaders of the other parliamentary parties, constitute the Assembly and form the Government,” Kurti said.
According to him, it makes no sense for an agreement not to be reached.
“It makes no sense for us not to reach an agreement; it makes no sense for us not to engage in dialogue. In these past few hours between the beginning of the session to constitute the Assembly and the continuation of that session, I have held meetings. I have also sent letters inviting them to meet and requesting responses regarding their positions in the absence of meetings,” he said.
Kurti further stated that the presidential candidate should have professional and national credentials, while once again calling on the leaders of the political parties to meet and reach an agreement.
“The President should be above party politics, outside daily political disputes, not part of the current political scene, but rather a personality with proven character and professional and national values and merits. Therefore, once again, I call on the chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Bedri Hamza, the chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdixhiku, and the chairman of the Alliance to meet and talk so that we can reach an agreement,” Kurti emphasized.
Kurti said efforts to constitute the Assembly must continue, but the issue of the president must also be resolved, which, according to him, is “not the exclusive responsibility” of the Vetëvendosje Movement.
“The Constitutional Court says: reach an understanding, make agreements, through its judgments. The citizens of the Republic expect us to reach an understanding and make agreements, therefore my commitment and insistence will be in this direction. If I bear the main burden and decisive responsibility for forming the new government as the winning political entity, the Vetëvendosje Movement with 53 MPs, 62 in total together with minority MPs, the constitution of the Assembly, including its deputy speakers, and especially the election of the president, who should be an expression of the unity of the people, are not our exclusive responsibility,” he said.
