The Vice-Chairwoman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), Time Kadrijaj, has criticized the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) for the blocked political situation in the country, accusing it of hindering the constitution of the Assembly and the formation of a new government following the parliamentary elections on February 9.
Kadrijaj, speaking to KosovaPress after the 28th failed attempt to constitute the ninth legislature, stated that AAK is the only party that has offered alternatives to resolve the institutional crisis, including readiness to support an acceptable LVV candidate for Assembly Speaker. The next session to attempt the election of legislative bodies is scheduled for Monday.
Since May 1, the Vetëvendosje Movement has insisted that the vote for its candidate for Assembly Speaker, Albulena Haxhiu, be conducted by secret ballot, as she has failed six times to be elected to the position by open vote.
Kadrijaj expressed hope that the Constitutional Court will soon issue a decision on the constitutionality of a secret ballot for the Assembly Speaker, following AAK’s initiation of the case on May 12. “We are the only party that has given alternatives. We have given alternatives that we will vote for a specific candidate if they are proposed for Speaker. Also, we have addressed the Constitutional Court with a request where there is a possibility to unblock the situation and set a time limit on how long a candidate has the right to be nominated if they do not get the votes for Speaker. Or how long LVV has the right to consume this right. It cannot be allowed indefinitely with such blockades and without efforts either to change the candidate or to create a simple majority,” she said.
While expressing opposition to any possible coalition with LVV, Kadrijaj cast doubt that Albin Kurti’s party might delay the constitution of the Assembly even if Albulena Haxhiu is elected Speaker, by not voting for the deputy speakers proposed by PDK and LDK. “No, by no means. We have been clear in this regard. We will continue with these principles and have given alternatives to unblock this situation… We are seeing a tendency that even if the Speaker passes, LVV will try to block the constitution of the Assembly through the election of deputy speakers,” Kadrijaj added.
The AAK Vice-Chairwoman also spoke to KosovaPress about the dialogue with Serbia and the possibility of reviving this process even before the new government is formed. Last week, the chief negotiator in the dialogue, also the caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, held a meeting in Brussels with the EU envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Peter Sorensen.
She claimed that caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti has brought no good to the country through dialogue; on the contrary, according to her, he has accepted an Association with executive powers. During Kurti’s mandate, Kosovo and Serbia agreed on the Brussels Basic Agreement and the Ohrid annex reached in 2023, which includes the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, but which has not yet been implemented in practice.
“They had a four-year mandate, and you know what blockades they made by avoiding the dialogue process, through unilateral actions and without coordination with the international factor. We have seen that this dialogue has brought no results except the donation of the Deçan Monastery lands for political points. They have also accepted the Association which has executive powers. With this dialogue, they have brought no good to Kosovo. We have expressed readiness to help in the dialogue process as a national interest, but they have disregarded everything and accepted dialogue issues that have harmed Kosovo,” she emphasized.
Regarding this, due to tensions instigated by Serbia in northern Kosovo in 2023, the European Union imposed punitive measures against Kosovo. Kadrijaj stated that these measures should be lifted entirely and not gradually, as announced by the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas. According to the AAK MP, during her meeting with Kallas during her visit to Kosovo, it became clear that some EU countries still believe that the situation in the north has not de-escalated.
“One of the requests we had in the meeting with Ms. Kallas was for the measures and sanctions against Kosovo to be lifted. They are hesitant, as the reasons for imposing the sanctions are clear, and they believe that the caretaker government is continuing in the direction of de-escalating the situation in the north. Some actions taken by the government are considered by them as not contributing to de-escalation, but to the escalation of the situation in the northern part, and this is the reason. The measures were imposed very quickly, but now for their lifting, a consensus of all EU countries is required, which currently does not exist,” she concluded.
