• Thaci reinvites Kurti for meeting (media)
• Kurti: We are not in high school to organise meetings in a day (Klan Kosova)
• “LVV to present Thaci with PM nominee and 61 signatures of MPs (Koha)
• Haxhiu: Mandate for forming government follows party's proposal (Telegrafi)
• Osmani: LDK-LVV relations impaired with Konjufca's election (T7/Klan)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Thaci reinvites Kurti for meeting (media)

President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci has sent another invitation to the leader of Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) Albin Kurti for a consultative meeting to appoint a nominee for forming the new government of Kosovo.

Thaci sent the first invitation to Kurti yesterday morning asking for the meeting to take place at 1 p.m. which Kurti did not attend. “Kurti is unable to meet the President today, because he is not in Pristina. He will soon notify the President about the possible dates for a meeting,” LVV said in a statement.

Thaci then proceeded to send another invite for a meeting on the same day at 8 p.m.

Kurti then sent his reply: “Thank you for the two invitations to meet today, invitations published in the media before reaching our office.

I was out of the country today. I cannot make it tonight either. To consult about the appointment of the nominee for forming the Government, we can meet in the coming days.

In the meantime, I will be reviewing the articles you referenced in your two letters.”

Kurti: We are not in high school to organise meetings in a day (Klan Kosova)

Leader of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) Albin Kurti hosted an end-of-year reception with the members of the media and commented on the invitations that President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci sent for a meeting to decide on a nominee for prime minister.

Kurti said only in high school do people set up meetings for the same day. "We need to take our state functions seriously. In the best case, paradoxically, ad hoc meetings are set in times of war or natural disasters. Thank God, we have none of that - we are in no war, have no natural disaster and we are not in high school."

Kurti said invitations for a meeting should be sent at least two or three days in advance and that he plans to review relevant Constitution articles before heading to a meeting with Thaci. "I want to be fully informed so that I know the context, because due to negotiations I was unable to deal with other issues which are no less important," he noted.

“LVV to present Thaci with PM nominee and 61 signatures of MPs (Koha)

Mazllum Baraliu, university professor and constitution expert, spoke to KTV about legal requirements concerning the formation of the new government.

“We are at a situation when certain procedural steps need to be followed. This time the president has responded to article 95 of the Constitution to get an adequate reply from the winning party on whether it has or doesn’t have the winning majority in parliament so that it can in a 15-day period prove it has the majority to head to the next session and begin forming the government,” Baraliu said.

Baraliu explained that according to the Constitution, the president undertakes necessary consultations to clarify whether the winning party has or has not the numbers to form the government. “The initiative comes from the president,” he underlined.

Baraliu also said that President Hashim Thaci’s invitation to leader of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) Albin Kurti was only a consultation and would not result in nominating Kurti prime minister. “After the consultation, comes the nomination, followed by the 15-day procedure,” he said.

Haxhiu: Mandate for forming government follows party's proposal (Telegrafi)

Albulena Haxhiu, MP from the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV), said the decision on nominee for the formation of the government should come following the political party's proposal.

"Seeing there are a lot of questions and misinterpretations, I will clarify a procedural aspect relating to actions following the constitution of the Assembly. First, the deadline for forming the Government, does not begin after the constitution of the Assembly. The 15-day timeline begins countdown after the nominee is announced by the President. Furthermore, article 84.14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo stipulates that the President decided on the nominee for forming the Government following the proposal from the political party... that constitutes majority in the Assembly," Haxhiu wrote on Facebook.

Osmani: LDK-LVV relations impaired with Konjufca's election (T7/Klan)

Deputy leader of the Demoratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Vjosa Osmani said that the relations with Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) suffered a major blow following the election of Glauk Konjufca head of Assembly.

"I believed the coalition would happen. We have a huge responsibility to make this coalition a reality," she said.

Osmani also said LDK was not informed that LVV would propose Konjufca for Assembly speaker. "When we headed to the Assembly, we tried to find out what was happening. We got no answer." "We were optimistic an agreement was possible. We asked for a week's time from Vetevendosje, and they told us 'no'," Osmani said.