The ruling Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV) has reiterated that the continuation of Kosovo’s constitutive Assembly session will be convened once a political agreement is reached on the election of the country’s president.
LVV lawmaker Adnan Rrustemi said the 48-hour deadline for calling the continuation of the constitutive session is set out in the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, but argued that the core of the current political crisis is not the deadline itself but the lack of political agreement over the presidency.
“We need time to reach an agreement on the president. As long as there is no agreement, constituting the legislature is a step toward unnecessary early elections, in our view, rather than toward an agreement or a solution to the main issue that has preoccupied Kosovo since the beginning of this year,” Rrustemi told KosovaPress.
He criticized opposition parties for insisting that the Assembly be constituted while simultaneously saying they would not participate in a session to elect the president, arguing that such a position effectively amounts to a call for early elections.
According to Rrustemi, Kosovo does not need another election but a political agreement on a president who can secure broader consensus.
He also rejected claims that the constitutional deadline has been violated, referring to an interpretation by the Constitutional Court under which the failure to fully constitute the Assembly within 30 days does not automatically trigger its dissolution.
Rrustemi argued that the participation of opposition lawmakers in last week’s session also demonstrated, in his view, that they did not consider the proceedings constitutionally prohibited.
“If they had believed there was a constitutional obstacle, they would not have attended the session,” he said, adding that opposition demands for the Assembly to convene every 48 hours likewise indicated that there was no constitutional barrier to completing the process.
Rrustemi called on other parliamentary parties to seek clarification from the Constitutional Court if they believe there are unresolved constitutional questions surrounding the process.
He accused the opposition of invoking the Constitution in a way that, according to him, obstructs the establishment of institutions.
“The Constitution does not exist to prevent the creation of institutions; on the contrary, it is a tool for creating institutions,” Rrustemi said.
The LVV lawmaker also denied allegations that the party is deliberately delaying the Assembly’s constitution in order to push new elections toward December.
“We are not delaying it for that reason. We are simply seeking an agreement on the president and insisting that Kosovo does not need elections, but a president,” Rrustemi said, stressing that LVV wants a consensual candidate rather than another election.
He also announced that LVV leader and caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti is expected to send new invitations to leaders of the former opposition parties for talks.
“There will be invitations and there will certainly be meetings. We will never tire of engaging in dialogue with the opposition parties to find a fair and useful solution that corresponds to the current situation and avoids early elections,” Rrustemi said.
Kosovo’s Assembly has yet to be fully constituted after two attempts failed to produce the election of an Assembly speaker and complete the process for establishing the 11th legislature.
The unresolved constitutive session remains at the center of political tensions between Kosovo’s parliamentary parties. The failure to establish the institutions has prolonged the country’s political crisis, while caretaker Prime Minister Kurti has called for additional time to reach a political agreement that could pave the way for the constitution of the Assembly and the formation of new institutions.
