PDK and Alliance Say No to Meeting with Haxhiu: “Come to Parliament, Don’t Run Away!

Acting President Albulena Haxhiu’s invitation to a consultative meeting on Tuesday was rejected by the two opposition parties, PDK and the Alliance. The meeting was intended to discuss ways to overcome the institutional deadlock and find a consensus president.

PDK described the initiative as “political manipulation,” while the Alliance accused the Vetëvendosje Movement of deliberately prolonging the institutional crisis.

PDK MP Uran Ismaili said that representatives of the party would not attend the meeting called by Haxhiu. According to him, the path to resolving the situation runs through Parliament, not through consultative meetings.

“This is yet another attempt by Kurti to manipulate by extending the deadlines in relation to the Constitutional Court’s deadlines. Haxhiu would have been better off writing a letter to Avni Dehari, because every institution of power in Kosovo is based on the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, and the Assembly is suspended. How can you exercise a mandate and send letters without sending one to Avni Dehari? Therefore, this is the latest manipulation, and PDK will not attend that meeting. We are telling you: come to Parliament, don’t run away,” Ismaili said.

Ismaili announced that PDK’s parliamentary group had once again asked the chair of the constitutive session, Avni Dehari, for the continuation of the session to be held on August 16.

“Let us restore the constitutional order in Kosovo. Let us call the session, propose the speaker of Parliament and constitute the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. No step forward can be taken by operating outside the Constitution. But at the same time, Kosovo cannot remain Albin Kurti’s hostage indefinitely. We will not accept it, we will not normalize such behavior and we will not allow it,” he declared.

The Alliance has also ruled out participation in Tuesday’s meeting.

Its chairman, Ardian Gjini, claimed that Vetëvendosje was prolonging the institutional crisis in order to postpone new elections until a date that suited the party.

“Your goal is more than that. You want to prolong this blockade until a date that suits you for the elections to be held. The Alliance has understood this game and will not give you an alibi,” Gjini wrote.

According to him, if Vetëvendosje intends to secure the Alliance’s votes and quorum, it must agree to the party’s six demands.

The Alliance’s demands include accepting American gas, building energy capacities, completing major infrastructure, raising the VAT threshold for small businesses, exempting farmers from property tax and investing in the capital.

Following the opposing positions of PDK and the Alliance, Avni Dehari, the chair of the constitutive session, responded. He called for dialogue and an agreement between the political parties, warning that continuing the session without prior agreement could worsen the situation.

“Any attempt to continue the session without a political agreement only further tensions the situation and increases the risk of clashes, including physical conflict inside the parliamentary chamber. Constituting Parliament and forming the government without a prior agreement on the president would mean early elections, something we must avoid,” Dehari said.

Haxhiu issued the invitation after LDK announced that it was withdrawing from a potential co-governing partnership with Vetëvendosje and demanded that the president be elected through consensus candidates.

Meanwhile, the deadline set by the Constitutional Court for the constitution of the 11th Legislature expired a week ago. The MPs have taken their oath, but the process has been blocked at the stage of electing the speaker of Parliament.

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has linked the refusal to propose a speaker of Parliament to the lack of an agreement on the president. He has warned that, if no political agreement is reached, the 60-day deadline for electing the president could also be used, and the country could face elections once again.

Nevertheless, the institutional crisis remains unresolved, as the political parties have yet to reach an agreement to unblock Parliament and elect the next president.