Those who lost their jobs in the pandemic will not be helped by the state until next year

Citizens who have left their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic will not be helped by the state until next year.

This category is foreseen by the Law on economic recovery to benefit for the period from October to December from 300 euros per month. According to Article 12 of this law, "Salaries of workers in the private sector" is planned to be paid from the state budget for the period October-December 2020, for those who, as a result of the pandemic, have left or been suspended from their work for the period no longer shorter than three months, after February 29, 2020, until December 30, 2020.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Agim Krasniqi, said that this category and some others will not be able to benefit from the law without the 2021 Budget Law being approved.

"Many media and citizens these days are writing to me and asking when I will start executing payments of 300 euros for those who have lost their jobs and also when I will start implementing support for businesses based on the Law on Economic Recovery (LRE). In the absence of individual answers, I am informing you that some articles of the LRE may begin to be implemented this year, as is the case with the withdrawal of trust funds, or other articles that do not require the approval of the Budget Law for 2021. But some articles of LRE cannot be implemented without passing the Budget Law for the year 2021 because they require that there be a budget allocation for their implementation, to determine the Institution that will implement these articles, to determine the criteria and the application method of the beneficiaries. This means that payments for those who have lost their jobs and ongoing support for businesses are linked to the approval of the Budget Law for 2021," he wrote on Facebook.

Based on the current laws, in Kosovo there is a deadline for approval of this law until March 31, 2021.

The law on recovery has mostly been discussed for the article that enables citizens to withdraw 10 percent of funds in the Pension Trust. From this category, those who have less than 10 euros in the Trust will be reimbursed later by the state.