06 Oct 14
The delay in establishing new government institutions in Kosovo four months after the general elections is leaving Kosovo diplomats out of pocket.

Nektar Zogjani
BIRN
Pristina

At least five Kosovo embassies in Europe have not paid rents for their offices or salaries to their staff for more than two months as a result of the political deadlock in the country.

An official who works in one of the embassies in Western Europe said staff in the embassy were suffering real hardship.

"We have not received salaries for two months, or funds to pay the rent, which is causing another problem for the staff," the diplomat told BIRN.

"Our embassy is not the only one in this position. Others in other European countries are facing similar problems," the same source, who asked not to be named, said.

The Kosovo Foreign Ministry has admitted that salaries and rents have not been paid on time in five embassies, blaming the delay on parliament's failure to review the 2014 budget.

"In absence of a review of the budget, which by law should happen in the middle of each year, we have had delays and minor difficulties in paying rents and staff salaries in five diplomatic missions," the ministry said.

While the budget review is supposed to take place every year, this could not be done with this year's budget because parliament has not been functional .

The Kosovo Assembly last adopted a decision in May, which is when MPs decided to call early general elections.

Since then, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, on the one hand, and an opposition coalition on the other have been fighting over which has the right to name the post of speaker of the assembly. This in turn has delayed the establishment of other central institutions.

Although the Foriegn Ministry said the problem with embassy payments "has been overcome", because the Finance Ministry has started allocating the necessary funds, the BIRN source said he and other embassy staffers had still not received any money.

The Finance Ministry meanwhile confirmed it had received a request from the Foreign Ministry to resolve the issue but said it was still in the process of dealing with it.

The Foreign Ministry also maintained that the delay did not affect "in the least the work and normal functioning of diplomatic missions".

Economists say the failure to review the annual budget will have serious consequences for certain sectors of the economy, as well embassies.

One economist, Alban Hashani, said that in the absence of a budget review, the government could not implement its fiscal policies and adjust to changes that have taken place in the meantime.

According to him, the next government will have to operate on a budget that will be left over after this government's mandate ends.

"In the absence of oversight mechanisms that come under the auspices of the assembly, the budget is not immune to possible abuses as a result of the lack of careful supervision," Hashani maintained.