Kosovo’s Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning has terminated the employment contracts of nine Serbian community officials over what it described as persistent failure to report to work.
The ministry terminated the contracts of seven officials at the Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency and two officials at the Kosovo Cadastral Agency, acting Minister Fitore Pacolli said.
According to Pacolli, the officials are also known as former members of the disbanded “Civil Protection” organization.
In a statement published on Facebook, Pacolli said the decisions were made because of their continued absence from their workplaces and followed recommendations from Kosovo’s National Audit Office.
With the latest decisions, the total number of employment contracts terminated within the Ministry of Environment and its subordinate institutions has reached 29. Twenty contracts had previously been terminated, Pacolli said.
“No one can maintain employee status without fulfilling the obligations arising from an employment contract,” Pacolli wrote, adding that her ministry would remain “uncompromising” in enforcing the law regardless of an employee’s community affiliation or position.
She stressed that public officials have a responsibility to serve citizens and fully comply with their official duties.
The decision is likely to attract political attention given the officials’ reported links to the former “Civil Protection” structure, which Kosovo authorities have previously associated with Serbian-backed structures operating in northern Kosovo.
