Murati clarifies: RTK employees are not included on the Treasury payroll

Finance Minister Hekuran Murati said that employees of Radio Television of Kosovo do not qualify for the 13th salary because their names are not on the payroll administered by the state Treasury.

The issue was raised at today’s session of the Kosovo Assembly by PDK MP Ganimete Musliu. She asked why employees of the public broadcaster had not received the 13th salary.

Murati clarified that the government’s decision on the 13th salary applies to all employees paid from the state budget who are included on payrolls managed by the Treasury.

According to him, RTK employees do not fall into this category because the public broadcaster is not a budget organization.

The minister stressed that RTK has the status of a separate legal entity, while its financing arrangements are regulated by the Assembly. For this reason, its budget and employee payments are considered the institution’s own responsibility.

Murati said that, as long as the Assembly has not set a budget or a specific funding mechanism for RTK, the government has continued to support it through subsidies.

He added that RTK’s management decides how to use the funds it receives, determining how much goes toward salaries, operating expenses and equipment investments.

Ganimete Musliu rejected the minister’s reasoning, saying that RTK employees are also paid with taxes collected from citizens of the Republic of Kosovo and should therefore be treated equally with other public-sector employees.

The PDK MP called it unfair to distinguish between RTK employees and other civil servants on the basis of how they are funded.

Musliu announced that she would seek accountability from Radio Television of Kosovo’s management for failing to pay the 13th salary, as she is a member of the parliamentary committee dealing with these issues.