Haxhiu: Political tensions prompted me to wait before calling the session

The Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly and acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, said her decision not to immediately call a plenary session to issue a statement on the judgment against former KLA leaders had drawn criticism.

Speaking on the “Debat Plus” programme, she explained that at the time, both the Assembly and the Government were being challenged before the Constitutional Court. For that reason, she said, it was necessary to wait for the situation to calm down.

Haxhiu said there had been discussions among representatives of parliamentary groups for three or four days. She noted that the session was held today but began more than an hour late, as lawmakers needed time to agree on a joint draft. According to her, the document received no votes against in the Kosovo Assembly.

She described the adoption of the statement as important, saying the Assembly had expressed its position and made several requests to Kosovo’s institutions, which, Haxhiu said, had been working on these issues for several years.

Haxhiu stressed that the Kosovo Assembly had not previously adopted resolutions or statements related to the war and the Kosovo Liberation Army, including the defence of the war and of the people through the KLA. She added that several resolutions and statements had now been adopted.

The Speaker of the Assembly also spoke about Albania’s supportive stance following the decision of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. She said she had been in contact with the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Niko Peleshi, whom she had personally thanked for his solidarity and support for Kosovo and the family members of those held in The Hague, who, she said, had been unjustly convicted.

Responding to criticism over the delay, Haxhiu explained that a plenary session can be called by 40 lawmakers through the procedure for an extraordinary session. She said that two days after the decision, both the Assembly and the Government had become the subject of legal challenges.

According to Haxhiu, no requests to call a session had been made at the time, while the political climate had been worsened by threatening language directed at lawmakers and ministers. For that reason, she said, it was more reasonable to let tensions ease, stressing that threats, hate speech and violence were not what the country needed.