Kosovo Parliamentary Speaker Jakup Krasniqi met with a delegation of war veterans of the former Kosovo Liberation Army today, which is led by the organization’s chairman, Muharrem Xhemajli. The meeting focused on speeding up the adoption of the bill on war veterans in Parliament.
The war veterans said that the majority of former freedom fighters are living in miserable conditions, especially 8,000 of them who are unemployed. “The state of Kosovo can do more about this category of our society and for their families. We are concerned with the delays in processing the law to Parliament,” the war veterans said.
Krasniqi expressed his support for fellow comrades and their legitimate demands. He said the bill on war veterans will first go through the committee for healthcare, work and social welfare and will then be submitted for a second reading in next week’s agenda.
One of the war veterans remarked that the bill did not have to go through parliamentary committees. Krasniqi replied: “We fought for our country’s freedom, but we also fought for the functioning of the state of law, therefore, we need to respect the procedures and laws. The bill on war veterans has not been delayed. On the contrary, it was submitted for the first reading with an accelerated procedure.”
Krasniqi also said that the IMF delegation in Kosovo expressed concern over the bill, whose cost is not yet known because of the unverified number of freedom fighters, “therefore, they asked us to present accurate lists of war veterans”.
