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By:
Ardit Kika
- December 22, 2024 19:05
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An additional 100 euros will be allocated by the Government at the end of this year for pensioners and children. Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that the allowances are gratitude for the contribution of pensioners and investment in children. According to the Government, over 400.000 children benefit from the child allowance scheme. And this decision has been severely criticized by the opposition parties, linking it to the election campaign that is on the verge
The Government of Kosovo has announced on Sunday that it has decided to give children up to the age of 16 and pensioners an additional 100 euros this end of the year.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti, in a press conference, said that these additions are recognition of the contribution that pensioners have made for years, as well as an investment for the future of children.
The opposition reacted strongly to this decision taken on the eve of the campaign.
And Kurti said that this is not a gift.
"Dear children, all of you who are between the ages of 0 and 16 and who are recipients of monthly allowances for children, will benefit from 100 euros each this year. This is not just an end-of-year gift from your state, but an investment in the well-being of all children without distinction. Therefore, you, dear parents, raise them with health, but also with love for their country... At the end of the year, we are distributing additional support of 100 euros or, as some have started to call it, the 13th pension for all retirees who qualify", said Kurti at the conference.
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And the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, has warned that the payments will be processed very quickly.
"There will be no need for an application, but we will try during this week, and since we have a day off during this week, we will try to make all the technical preparations so that the payments can be executed this week." Murat said.
Murat also spoke about non-compliance with the Minimum Wage Law by various businesses.
Last month, KOHA reported that according to Tax Administration data, 16.000 full-time workers in October received less than the minimum wage of 350 euros gross approved by the Government in August.
Asked about the implementation of the minimum wage, Minister Murati called on the workers to report these violations to TAK and the Labor Inspectorate.
"With the new decision, in addition to the minimum gross salary for the whole month, the salary per working hour has also been determined. There may be cases where there are limited working hours, i.e. halved hours, that is why it can be at this level, but, nevertheless, I encourage all workers: there are already anonymous reporting mechanisms, either in the Administration Tax, either in the Labor Inspectorate and we are ready to take all the steps and all the necessary measures to ensure that this decision is respected, but it is up to them first that this right is violated to us notify, so that we can be more efficient in carrying out our work", declared Murati.
The minister emphasized that as a government they are committed to advancing the rights of private sector workers.
He has also announced that a new institute and a fund for maternity and parental leave will be created.
Immediately after the conference where Kurti and Murati appeared, they as well as the Government as a whole were criticized by the opposition parties.
The decision is related to the parliamentary elections that will be held on February 9, but also to the amount that, according to them, resembles alms.
Arben Mustafa, a member of the Presidency of the PDK, has said that such policies are an attempt to hide the failure of the Government in the economy.
"As expected, the Government of Kosovo took the next decision to cover the four-year failure through the distribution of one-time aid of 100 euros. We have already seen that such one-time aid does not provide any lasting improvement in the economic situation of Kosovar families", said Mustafa, who is also a candidate for deputy from the ranks of the PDK.
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The government allocates 100 euros each for children and pensioners
In its response, the Democratic League of Kosovo said that 100 euros is not even enough to pay for electricity.
"Because what we saw today from this government is nothing more than a sign of panic and lack of vision from a failed leadership that has not implemented anything sustainable in 4 years of government. Citizens are tired of incompetent governance, and they are showing us every day that they want change, and they want it immediately!", says the reaction of the LDK.
The former Minister of Finance, LDK deputy, Hykmete Bajrami reacted to the decision on the allocation of allowances.
She called it a "public corruption scheme".
"The government, whose capital investments in 2024 are lower than in 2017 and 2018, have added the budget to Santa's sack and bought votes.
The government which, during its mandate, doubled the electricity bills, doubled the property tax, humiliated the civil servants, insulted the trade unions, forced the elite police unit to protest, left the army without bread and policemen without shoes, abused parents two years in a row with the purchase of books, the government in whose mandate the prices have increased like never before, today with money of taxpayers is trying to buy votes", she wrote on Facebook.
The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo also reacted.
"I have often heard him say that salaries did not increase on the eve of the elections, that aid is not distributed for votes, but how much money is it worth. Except the vitras are given before the Eid prayer, but the vitras are not taxpayers' money. It would be noble if it had been said that pensions and allowances for children have been increased from 8 euros per month, retroactively from January 1 of this year, that's all they do, and they were forgiven from 100 euros, 'no pasaran'!
If you are going to forgive, forgive from your pocket and yes with your right hand, don't even show your left hand! And for the taxpayers' money, give up, they deserve much more than this ridiculous value. The end is their sweat!", wrote AAK official, Muharrem Nitaj.
Even the expert on European integration, Shenoll Muharremi, criticized the decision, saying that he is aiming for votes on the eve of the February 9 elections.
"Pure electoral corruption: 100 EURO Vote. You are sorry that the day has come to see someone like Albin Kurti and LVV distributing the people's money for two or three more votes in the elections. Today I saw the trade figures of Kosovo for the last month. Fully 473,000,000 euros was the deficit or loss in goods for one month. For one hour, the loss during November reaches 15 million euros", said Muharremi.
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Murati: About 700 thousand beneficiaries of allowances, 60 citizens gave them up
The allocation of 100 euros for children and pensioners for the end of the year by the Government of Kosovo started last year, for which Prime Minister Kurti said that they are fulfilling a promise.
"Just like last year, this year all children aged 0-16 who are recipients of monthly allowances for children will benefit from the end-of-year allowance in the amount of 100 euros. This is the second time that we are sharing such a support allowance for our children, in addition to the doubling and tripling of the monthly allowances for them that we did in August of this year. Beneficiaries of the additional 100 euros will also be pensioners. This is the fifth time within our mandate that such support has been distributed to our pensioners, for whom, in addition to one-time supplements, we have increased pensions twice during the mandate, first the basic pension up to 33% and now recently to 20% for all pensioner categories. We had excellent economic performance and increased budget revenues. We are sharing the benefits and growth with the citizens and families," Kurti wrote on Facebook.
