Constitutive Session of Assembly Expected in Early August

Acting President of Kosovo Albulena Haxhiu has announced that the constitutive session to establish the country’s institutions is expected to be held at the beginning of August.

According to her, political parties have been given time to hold meetings and reach an agreement before the constitutive session is called.

“You know very well that the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo gives the president, in this case me, since I am the acting president of the Republic of Kosovo, a 30-day deadline to call the constitutive session.

Considering that once the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo is constituted, and taking into account the numbers in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, it will be constituted, we will not have the problem we had at the beginning of the year or in April last year. Since, after the Assembly is constituted, the deadlines for the election of the president begin to run, namely 60 days after the constitution of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, I assessed that political parties should be given the time available to reach an agreement, so that once the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo is constituted, there will be no need to wait 60 days to elect the president, or for us to find ourselves in a situation, which I do not believe anyone wants, where we fail to elect the president and go once again to extraordinary elections. This is not good for the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, and I do not think that any political entity or individuals within political entities would benefit from this situation. Therefore, as acting president, I welcomed the meetings held at the invitation of Prime Minister and leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Mr Albin Kurti. I positively assessed the approach of the LDK and PDK, which agreed to continue these meetings. I do not think it is good that the LDK has now suspended, so to speak, the meetings aimed at reaching an agreement. I also call on the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo to respond positively to invitations for meetings, because we cannot have an agreement without holding meetings. Therefore, a serious approach and constructive discussions lead to an agreement. Once again, I must stress, as I have said before, that the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, through their vote, have punished blockades or obstructionist positions that make it impossible to elect the country’s president. Kosovo needs a president with a five-year mandate; therefore, maximum efforts must be made in this regard, and there must be cooperation from all sides,” she said.

Haxhiu stated that the constitutional deadline for calling the session expires on August 7, while the constitutive meeting, according to her, will be held in the first days of that month.

She stressed that the parties must make every effort to find a solution, in the interest of Kosovo’s citizens.

“You know very well that Prime Minister Kurti’s serious efforts are continuing. Prime Minister Kurti has invited political parties for this purpose, but the LDK has suspended negotiations, while the PDK has maintained its own position and the AAK has not responded positively to the invitation. There can be no, so to speak, obligation to respond to these meetings, but it is very important, for the sake of the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo and for our state itself, that maximum efforts be made to find a solution. As I mentioned, no one wants extraordinary elections in the Republic of Kosovo because they would solve nothing. Now, the constitutional deadline is until August 7, and there will be a constitutive session at the beginning of August. I promise that next week you will know the exact date and exact time. This is also important so that all 120 MPs are present at the constitutive session, as the ruling of the Constitutional Court also stresses. Thank you, and see you at other conferences,” Haxhiu said.