14 Nov 14
Pressure is growing on Kosovo's outgoing Prime Minister to give ground politically, now the four-party opposition coalition has relinquished its demand for the post of speaker

BIRN
Pristina

Pressure is mounting on Kosovo's outgoing Prime Minister to compromise with his political rivals after signs of movement in the months-long tussle over which bloc should elect the new speaker of parliament.

For over five months, the two major blocs created in and after the 8 June elections have disputed the right to nominate the candidate for the post of speaker.

However, the four-party opposition coalition recently abandoned its demand to take the post. The decision of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Self-Determination Movement (Vetevendosje), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and the Initiative for Kosovo, has paved the way for moves to finally establish a new government.

However, Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, which the right to nominate a speaker according to a ruling from the Constitutional Court, is now insisting on a broader-based political agreement with the opposition bloc.

This is is seen as a waste of time by a number of Western diplomats. Robert Bosch, the Dutch ambassador, for example, has said that there is no reason for delay after recent developments.

"There is no need for preliminary agreements among the parties. The issues must be discussed in parliament. Kosovo needs a parliament more than everything else now," he said.

"It seems as if all the parties have accepted the [Constitutional] Court ruling and I do not see any reason to further postpone the constituent session," Bosch added.

The British ambassador, Ian Cliff, agreed. Now there was an agreement on which party would nominate the speaker, "the assembly must be constituted as soon as possible", he said.

Months of deadlock over the election of a parliamentary speaker have prevented a new government from being formed.

The biggest parliamentary group, gathered round Thaci's PDK, does not have enough seats in the assembly to do so.

However, the court in July threw out the election of an opposition speaker, Isa Mustafa, ruling that the PDK had the sole right to nominate a candidate.

The court did not specify how the assembly should proceed if the biggest parliamentary group failed to elect the speaker.