Haradinaj government to “reinvent the wheel” (Zeri)
The paper’s editor, Lavdim Hamidi, writes in an opinion piece that while a government run by Ramush Haradinaj could last more than his 100 days in office in 2004 when he was forced to resign to face war crimes allegations in The Hague, it is unlikely to endure a four-year mandate in the present situation where the opposition parties have almost the same number of votes as the ruling coalition. Hamidi notes that the new Haradinaj-led government is entirely dependent on the Serbian List which is under the control of Serbian leadership and the ministries have not been proportionally divided amongst the partners. For instance, Haradinaj’s Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with ten MPs got to run two ministries while Behgjet Pacolli’s New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) with two MPs received four ministries and the post of one deputy prime minister. At the same time, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) will have seven posts in the new government, including the top post of the newly-created Ministry of Innovation. Haradinaj, recalls Hamidi, promised to secure visa liberalisation for the people of Kosovo in three months but has to get the Assembly to first approve the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro. However, this will be “impossible as he would need votes of 80 MPs, which he does not have.” This “hopeless situation” can change only if the Ministry of Innovation “reinvents the wheel”, remarks Hamidi.