Municipalities to protest today outside government headquarters over threats to budgets and powers

The Association of Kosovo Municipalities will protest today outside the Kosovo Government building, at Skanderbeg Square in Pristina. The gathering begins at 11:00 a.m. and has been announced as a peaceful, institutional and non-partisan protest.

Through the protest, the AKM is demanding the protection of municipalities’ budgets, property and powers, compensation for obligations arising from collective agreements, and an end to central-level interference in local autonomy.

One day before the gathering, Pristina Mayor Përparim Rama posted a video on Facebook inviting citizens to participate. He called on the central government not to take away from municipalities what, he said, belongs to them.

“You cannot take citizens’ budget away from them, block their projects and halt their development just because they did not vote for you. This is not governance. It is political punishment,” Rama said.

According to Rama, the funds and projects of local government are being obstructed by the government depending on the political affiliation of the municipalities. He said that since 2022, more than 344 million euros had been taken from municipal budgets to cover obligations created at the central level, while in the first four months of 2026 alone, the amount taken, according to him, reached around 55 million euros.

Gjakova Mayor and leader of the Alliance, Ardian Gjini, has also joined the call to participate in today’s protest in Pristina. He considers the central-level action an infringement of the legal rights and powers of local government.

Gjini described municipalities as “the citizens’ first point of contact” and the main link representing them in institutions. At the same time, he accused central authorities of unlawful and politically motivated interference in municipal responsibilities.

Among the concerns he listed were budget cuts, the exclusion of more than 3,100 teachers from financial planning, and the failure to compensate damage caused by natural disasters. Gjini also mentioned the centralization of inspectorates and civil service employment, as well as restrictions that, according to him, are being imposed on municipal property.