Lekaj: Government to be formed soon
(TV21, Klan Kosova)
According to AAK vice chairman Ramush Haradinaj, government will be formed soon. He told Radio Free Europe that based on the statement of the AAK leader and PAN’s Prime Minister Candidate Ramush Haradinaj, numbers have been assured and government will be formed in the coming days.
Lekaj also spoke about the failure to reach any agreement with VV and the LDK led coalition. According to him, Haradinaj did not circumvent agreements with those entities, but he failed to agree with them. Therefore, Lekaj said that Haradinaj had no other option but reaching agreements with individual MPs, who are anonymous, and who think for the good of the country.
President Thaçi prolongs constitutive Assembly session
(Klan Kosova)
Those that have become MPs from the June 11 election results are waiting for Kosovo President’s call to start work. Moreover, Mytaher Haskuka of VV believes that President Thaçi is late in calling the constitutive session. According to him, the President should have called the session last week, but since it did not happen, Haskuka expects that it will take place this week.
Flora Brovina of PDK also believes that the Assembly will be constituted this week.
Arbër Vllahiu, AAK public information officer, told Klan Kosova that they have been waiting for the President’s activation.
The LDK-AKR-Alternativa (LAA) coalition officials expect that the Assembly constitution session will be held this week. They stated that by Constitution, the Assembly Speaker shall belong to the PDK-AAK-Nisma (PAN) coalition, adding that they have no reason not to vote for him, so that they can proceed to forming government.
It was impossible to get any response from President Thaçi’s Office on Sunday.
However, Haskuka believes that the delay of President’s activation is happening on purpose. According to him, prolongation of the constitutive session indicates that PAN coalition does not have sufficient votes, and thus the President is trying to give PAN time, so that they can get the necessary votes for forming government.
Kryeziu: Mustafa, Kurti, and Haradinaj failed to take PDK to opposition
(Klan Kosova)
The Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) director Ismet Kryeziu says that Isa Mustafa, Albin Kurti, and Ramush Haradinaj failed to take PDK to opposition; furthermore, according to him, that was even not their goal. In a Facebook post, Kryeziu wrote that the intention of those three political leaders was mostly to replace Thaçi as Prime Minister.
Kryeziu said that so far all what we have heard from those parties was that PDK should go to opposition and that it is the evil of the country, but none of them until now has taken the possible and appropriate action so that Kadri Veseli’s party can really be in opposition rather than being a topic of discussion for constituting government.
Kryeziu added that whichever political coalition forms government, be it PAN coalition with minorities or unification of VV with LAA, would have troubles; the first because it would be a minority government, and second, because it would have a Presidency and Legislative led by PAN.
Illegal weapon possession remains concerning
(Most monitored broadcasters, RTK1)
While doing their job, Kosovo Police members are often faced with life danger. Such was the situation early on Sunday morning in Gracanica/Graçanicë. An armed robbery at a shopping centre made robbers shoot with gunfire. KosovaPress reported that after noticing that they were followed by Police, while getting away the suspects shot with gunfire against police officers, who were compelled to respond to the shooting.
The incident was also confirmed by Kosovo Police spokesperson Daut Hoxha, who said that no injuries were reported.
Such incidents happen because many Kosovo citizens still possess illegal weapons. Referring to statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, although the number has declined, around 260,000 illegal weapons still are in hands of Kosovo citizens.
Even though the Police is in the process of fighting illegal weapon possession, this continues to be a concerning phenomenon.
War raped women still without institutional support
(TV21)
Even almost two decades later, war raped women continue to experience health consequences. However, this is not their only concern – some of them say they have not shared their story even with their relatives, due to prejudice. In addition, even so many years later, they do not enjoy any pension.
Caretaker Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Arban Abrashi said that the relevant committee and everything necessary has been established since November, but the Government has not yet brought it to the meeting for approval.
Abrashi, who at the same time is Government’s spokesperson, expects that this institution will soon set the pension for victims of sexual violence, while new government will have to pay the pensions by amending Law on Budget.
In a special chapter on Kosovo in her book, Shirley DioGuardi dealt with the issue of women’s raping in Kosovo, and particularly with the lack of support by government.
“Government of Kosovo did not provide the same support as the Bosnian one… We must admit that in order for Kosovo society as a whole to move forward, reopening of this issue needs to be supported. I am deeply convinced that the perpetrators –we all know who they are and they continue living without problems in Serbia – must be taken before justice,” Ms DioGuardi told Voice of America Albanian Section.
