Kraki: Assembly Has Until September 5 to Constitute Itself, Deadline Began on August 6

Nezir Kraki, an MP from the Vetëvendosje Movement, believes that the 30-day period for constituting the Assembly of Kosovo has not yet expired. According to him, the countdown began only on Thursday, August 6, when the MPs were sworn in and the constitutive session began.

He described as inaccurate the claims that the deadline for establishing the new legislature is now expiring. Kraki argued that, before taking the oath, the MPs had no authority to take action as part of this process.

“All those who think that the deadline for constituting the Assembly expires tonight are mistaken. Regardless of whether they are doing so knowingly or not, the matter is entirely simple and basic when it comes to constitutional norms,” Kraki said.

In his interpretation, the 30-day period cannot begin on the date when the election results were certified.

In a video posted on Facebook, he said the 30 days given to MPs to constitute the Assembly cannot be counted from the certification of the results, since there were no sworn-in MPs until a day earlier. For this reason, according to him, they had no opportunity to act before taking the oath.

Kraki also emphasized that the date of the constitutive session is not determined by lawmakers but is set by the Presidency.

“The Presidency sets the session, while parliamentary life begins on the day the constitutive session opens. For this reason, the 30-day deadline could only have begun yesterday. Since yesterday, we have been able to act because we are MPs, we have taken the oath, and the session has begun,” he said.

Questioning what MPs could have done before taking the oath, Kraki asked whether they could have imposed a different date for the session on the Presidency. His answer was no, as it was regarding the possibility of holding talks to fill positions or constitute the Assembly before taking the oath.

The VV MP called on representatives of civil society, opposition supporters, fellow MPs, the media and analysts not to rush their interpretation of the deadline.

“There is no reason for you to rush, whether you are from civil society, supporters of the opposition, fellow MPs, the media or analysts. I am not talking about parties or politics, but about constitutional norms,” Kraki said.

According to him, if the matter is referred to the Constitutional Court, the fact that MPs were not in a position to take action before being sworn in must be taken into consideration.

Kraki said that if the case ends up in court, it has no alternative but to find that lawmakers had no real opportunity to act before taking the oath. Consequently, according to him, they cannot be blamed for failing to carry out a duty for which they lacked the necessary means and authorization, namely the status of sworn-in MPs.

He said the Assembly and the current legislature cannot be held responsible for the fact that the Assembly was not constituted before the opening of the constitutive session, as that session had not begun until yesterday.

Based on this interpretation, Kraki said that the process of constituting the Assembly must be completed no later than September 5.

“The session continues tomorrow, and we have until September 5. The 30-day deadline now extends until that date for the completion of the constitutive process,” he said.

Finally, Kraki clarified that the Constitution does not contain such a deadline. According to him, the 30-day period stems from a Constitutional Court ruling issued during the first institutional deadlock.