Clashes between ruling coalition partners (Gazeta Blic)
Citing sources in the Kosovo government, the news site reports that there are serious clashes between the ruling coalition partners, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). Sources claim that some LDK ministers are slowly removing PDK people from key positions and trying to replace them with LDK members. “Some changes that [Finance] Minister Abdullah Hoti has made in the Kosovo Tax Administration and in the Kosovo Customs have triggered a rebellion by the PDK,” sources within the government said. According to them, PDK senior officials are also outraged with Minister of Culture Kujtim Shala’s alleged attempt to dismiss his secretary general Veton Firzi, a member of the PDK. Adem Grabovci, head of the PDK parliamentary group, called an urgent meeting on Wednesday with his LDK counterpart Ismet Beqiri. According to sources, Grabovci warned Beqiri that if LDK ministers continue this behavior the coalition between the two parties could come to an end. “Grabovci at one point told Beqiri that they [PDK] could even call a vote of confidence on the Mustafa government,” the source said. The news site tried to contact Beqiri and Grabovci but they were not available for comment. A senior LDK official, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Gazeta Blic that when they took over government ministries, several LDK ministers came across scandals involving the abuse of public funds but could not report them to the prosecution or penalize those who are responsible. “At least two ministers were ready to remove from their ministries those who abused with public funds; however, the heads of parties interfered and everything is closed now,” the source added.