Acting Minister of Finance, Labor, and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, has publicly addressed the recent accusations made by the Mayor of Pristina, Përparim Rama, who claimed that the central government is politically retaliating by blocking the capital’s municipal budget.
In a written statement, Minister Murati dismissed the claims as unfounded, stating that the delays in including Pristina’s budget in the national Budget Law stem from procedural lapses at the municipal level.
“It would be more productive for Përparim Rama to ask his party, the LDK, to fulfill its constitutional responsibility and vote in favor of constituting the Assembly. Only then can the Budget Law be amended to include Pristina’s budget,” Murati noted.
He emphasized that municipalities are required to approve their budgets through their respective municipal assemblies by September 30. This allows the Ministry to incorporate these into the national budget, which must be submitted to the Assembly by October 31.
“In the case of Pristina, the municipal budget was not approved by the legal deadlines—not by September 30, nor by October 31. The municipal assembly only adopted its draft budget on December 9, well after the established deadlines,” Murati clarified.
He further explained that such a delay means the draft budget can only become effective through an amendment to the existing Budget Law, which must be initiated by the Assembly—a body currently not constituted.
Murati concluded by saying that only after the Assembly is constituted and a new Government is elected can the process of amending the Budget Law begin, thus enabling the inclusion of Pristina’s municipal budget
