For more than a month, the Assembly of Kosovo conducted no parliamentary business, but that did not prevent nearly half of its MPs from hiring personal assistants in the first days after taking the oath of office.
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During this period, the legislative institution remained deadlocked in the process of constituting itself, holding no working sessions to consider draft laws or other items on the parliamentary agenda. Experts who monitor the Assembly’s work describe the hiring of assistants under these circumstances as irresponsible and unethical.
The process of constituting the Assembly was completed only on September 13, although one deputy speaker position remained vacant. The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) withdrew its candidate and did not take part in the continuation of the inaugural session.
Later that same day, 62 MPs voted in Kosovo’s new government, the fourth led by Albin Kurti of the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV).
By September 11, 52 of the Assembly’s 120 MPs had exercised their right to hire assistants. Data obtained from the legislative institution show that 12 of them hired aides on August 7, just one day after taking the oath of office.
Another 32 MPs hired assistants on other days in August, while eight more lawmakers did so during September.
How much do MPs’ assistants cost Kosovo’s budget?
According to the Assembly, the gross salary of a personal official is €972.4, excluding the additional payment based on work experience.
This means that the 52 assistants cost the budget more than €50,500 per month.
The Assembly’s Rules of Procedure state that political staff are responsible for providing MPs with professional and technical support in the performance of their duties.
Other matters related to the hiring of this category of political officials are regulated through a separate act approved by the Presidency of the Assembly.
The Regulation on Supplements to MPs’ Basic Salaries and the Regulation on Salary Classification for the Assembly’s Political Support Staff stipulate that the contracts of MPs’ officials last as long as the mandates of their political employers.
Which MPs hired assistants?
Of the 12 MPs who hired assistants on August 7, one day after taking the oath on August 6, four were from PDK, seven from the Alliance and one from LVV.
The hiring of support staff increased further during August, when another 32 assistants were engaged. A further eight were hired during the first ten days of September.
The appointments are described as irresponsible and unethical conduct
Naim Jakaj of the Kosovo Law Institute and Eugen Cakolli of the Kosovo Democratic Institute say that the legal framework governing the hiring of assistants does not justify the MPs’ decision. According to them, as long as the Assembly had not been constituted, MPs had no duties for which they could have needed assistance.
Speaking to Radio Free Europe, Jakaj said that MPs who hired assistants before the Assembly was constituted should explain the actual need for them and what specific work they performed.
Jakaj noted that, despite the MPs having taken the oath of office, the Assembly had still not been constituted. For this reason, lawmakers could not fully perform their parliamentary duties, and the institution was not conducting regular business that would have justified the same level of need for support staff.
According to him, particularly problematic are the cases in which MPs hired assistants immediately after taking the oath, during a period with no parliamentary work, no functioning committees and no regular sessions.
Jakaj stressed to RFE that the fact that an action is permitted under the Rules of Procedure does not end the debate, because legality represents only the minimum standard. According to him, MPs are also expected to demonstrate ethical and professional responsibility when spending public money.
Cakolli said that the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure themselves link the hiring of assistants to the performance of an MP’s duties. For this reason, according to him, it remains debatable whether support staff could be hired before the Assembly was constituted.
He explained to Radio Free Europe that MPs cannot perform their duties without a constituted Assembly. According to Cakolli, the institution can begin operating in line with its constitutional legislative, oversight and representative responsibilities only after it has been fully constituted and the Assembly’s working groups have been formed.
Cakolli said that the salaries of MPs and their assistants usually cost taxpayers around €300,000 each month.
He sees the problem in the immediate activation of MPs’ financial entitlements and benefits while their responsibilities and institutional work remain on hold or are delayed altogether.
According to Cakolli, this issue should be regulated so that MPs can hire support staff and receive other benefits only after the Assembly has been constituted.
He concluded that such a regulation would prevent situations in which the Assembly could remain unconstituted for months while salaries continued to be paid not only to MPs but also to their assistants, who, in his assessment, had minimal, if not nonexistent, workloads.
