Several news sites cover Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa’s post on Facebook this morning, focusing on protests against Communities and Returns Minister Aleksandar Jablanovic and the Trepca issue. He wrote:
“As Prime Minister, I appreciate the right to protest and organize strikes and other forms of expressing dissatisfaction. But I also believe that we need to look into the reasons and seek the right solutions. It is clear to me that nothing happens by accident. Just in my first month. I have already been faced with a request for 25% salary raises, the registration of another 1,000 youths in the University of Pristina, protests over a statement by Minister Jablanovic, and the decision of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court that allows for the liquidation of Trepca on February 2. I had not been informed about the risk of liquidation, neither by the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, the management of Trepca, or the people who were responsible for this in the previous government. And now I am seeing the same people making populist statements and suggesting imaginary solutions in the media.
“Unfortunately, the political speech used nowadays is unacceptable. It is unacceptable to call people savages. It is also unacceptable to call someone a fascist, a criminal, a killer, or to tell people in Parliament that they belong in prison. Such claims must be based on arguments and facts. No one should take advantage of the families of missing persons and their tragedy; no one should take advantage of the miners in an effort to conceal shady business dealings involving Trepca’s wealth. Such dealings cannot be covered up by turning Trepca into a public company or by creating conditions for its liquidation. Things need to be clarified, and as leader of the government, it is my duty to help clarify them.
“We have made it very clear that the budget cannot afford salary raises or additional changes to the Collective Agreement, except when based on years of work experience. Therefore, public sector teachers should not deny our children the right to regular classes; there is no sense in that. There are no other funds except for those in our country’s budget. I also want to make it very clear that public sector salaries in Kosovo (the poorest country in the Balkans) are still higher than in most countries in the region … but people in other countries are not protesting and they are not organizing strikes. We can play politics with salaries, we can play politics with public companies, we can play politics with education institutions, we can also play politics with emotions for Trepca, but these kinds of politics will lead to the bankruptcy of the state. We will not bankrupt our state. Saving our state from harm is a duty for us all.”
