Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has shown a softer approach by inviting the Alliance to a meeting to discuss the formation of new institutions. However, this party has not changed its stance.
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Besnik Tahiri, an elected MP from the Alliance, declared that there will be no sitting at the discussion table until the party’s six programmatic demands are addressed. According to him, these points are related to state policies and not to power-sharing.
Asked whether refusing the meeting with Kurti is hindering the creation of institutions, Tahiri responded that the Alliance’s demands are already public, while concrete actions must be taken by the Government.
Referring to the American gas project, he said that Kurti or the Vetëvendosje Movement do not need to send a response to the Alliance. According to Tahiri, the Government of Kosovo must address a letter to the U.S. Government and the State Department, through which Kosovo would obtain a state commitment for American gas infrastructure. He added that other issues also require decisions from the Government and not communication with his party.
Tahiri insisted that the conditions presented do not stem from party interests, as the Alliance does not aim to take posts in the executive branch.
He stressed that his party is not blocking the process in order to secure ministries, ambassadors, or the position of Speaker of Parliament. Tahiri recalled that the Alliance was not invited to the previous process and asked how it happened that now it is being treated as a respectable party. According to him, the Alliance has always been a respected and state-forming political force, while its concern relates to the stance that Kurti has held for a long time and which he must change.
The elected MP also criticized the way Kosovo has been governed over the past two years. He claimed that the continuation of governance with acting officials is part of a political objective of Kurti.
According to Tahiri, Kosovo has never in its political history faced a more difficult situation. He said that the country has been run by acting officials for two years because the prime minister’s strategic goal is to stay in this position and take control of institutions linked to regulators. Tahiri stated that the Government controls the regulators, public money, and key institutions that generate revenue. In this way, according to him, Kurti aims to carry out his duties without the legislative oversight and control of Parliament, as well as without being held accountable for international relations.
For this reason, as Tahiri explained, the Alliance has withdrawn from any claims to be part of the government and only seeks the implementation of policies it deems to be in Kosovo’s interest.
In his statement to eo, he said that the Alliance has taken a step forward by giving up the demand for inclusion in the government and by not claiming a single political position appointed in the executive, while retaining its positions in Parliament. Tahiri declared that this approach has only one aim: saving Kosovo.
The six points that the Alliance has publicly presented as the basis for supporting the formation of institutions are: recognizing the American gas project as a strategic project; initiating procedures for the construction of a coal-fired power plant; raising the VAT threshold for small businesses from 30,000 to 100,000 euros; exempting cultivated land from property tax; full financing of infrastructure projects; and establishing a fund worth 800 million to 1 billion euros for investments in Prishtina.
