Shkelzen Maliqi notes in his opinion piece for Gazeta Express that skepticism and critique play a positive role on the work of the new government, making it aware that they are under continuous observance of the opposition and public opinion. However he adds, they can also be counter-productive and blocking if initiated by nihilistic and revenging premises or from exaggerated expectations which cannot be performed within the limited governing mandate.
The most predominant slogan of Kosovo media these days is “Zero tolerance for the new government.” This is a signal that even though the government has two thirds of the Assembly, it will not govern easily and without control of the public opinion, despite the fact that the opposition is not giving signs of acting together.
The dissatisfied part of the public opinion and media which supported the anti-PDK coalition are not giving time to Mustafa’s government to prove that it could have a positive programme. Maliqi considers that this could be to a certain extent justifiable, being that it took six months to create the government. In addition, Mustafa and Thaci, should have refreshed the government with new names and experts. However, considering the circumstances under which this government is created, none of the leaders was in position to condition the other on adopting the list of the ministers to the aims of the government.
Maliqi considers that the current government should not be burdened with great expectations. “Considering the “compromised” structure of Mustafa’s government, we can freely say that this will be a transitory government with more binding obligations than development programmes.”
Speedy development of Kosovo and massive employment were anyways fairy tales of the election campaign, and not reachable promises, writes Maliqi, adding that what this government could do is create pre-conditions for such development. The current coalition however has the two elements which could complete obligations of this government. The first one is international recognition of Kosovo, with the dialogue with Serbia and EU as the main process, and the second one is building of a sustainable economic model. The government is composed relatively well for these two obligations. If continuance of the dialogue with Serbia and Euro-Atlantic integration is set as a priority for the PDK part of the government, the LDK part has the local economic expertise developed at research projects of Riinvest Institute, part of which was also Isa Mustafa, while Deputy Prime Minister Muhamed Mustafa still leads it. Maliqi notes that one cannot expect miracles on this direction without initial consolidation of the state, building of infrastructure and progress on the EU integration processes. However, he considers that being that this coalition gained the trust of majority of the voters, it should be given a chance to work for the interest of Kosovo.
