Just a few days before the new parliamentary elections, the incumbent government has allocated 100 euros each to pensioners, children, the non-public sector, and students.
Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said that he has asked the Minister of Finance to design a package to deal with inflation.
"The package to deal with inflation 2.0 that we have designed and will approve today includes the following measures: "One-time support of 100 euros for pensioners, one-time support of 100 euros for children, one-time support of 100 euros for non-public sector employees, support of 100 euros for active students. We will make payments to beneficiary families at the beginning of next week," he said.
Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati, has said that only employees in the private sector who have a salary lower than 1000 euros will receive the 100 euro bonus.
The Government has also approved an increase in maternity benefits.
"From this month we will increase maternity allowances. While under previous governments maternity allowances were zero, for the first time "We first started by paying 170 euros for 6 months for unemployed mothers and three months for employed mothers. We started the allowances at the minimum wage, and in May last year we increased them to 325 euros. This year we increased the minimum wage again, from July 1 it will be 500 euros. This May we are also increasing the allowances for mothers, from 325 to 500 euros per month," said Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
Financial means for pensioners and children will be allocated next week, while private sector employees will have to apply to benefit later.
In addition to the decision to allocate 100 euros for children, pensioners, students and private sector workers, the meeting also approved the allocation of budgetary funds worth one million euros for the implementation of the measure 3.4 food coupons for families in need. Kurti said that this decision is within the framework of the economic recovery package.
"The allocation of budgetary funds worth one million euros aims to support families in need, through measure 3.4 food vouchers within the framework of the economic recovery package. The funds are transferred from the economic recovery program to the department of social schemes and will be used to cover costs according to the announced call for beneficiaries," Kurti said.
Dugolli on criticism of the 100-euro allowance: It was our electoral pledge since last year
The candidate for deputy from the Vetëvendosje Movement, Enver Dugolli, has reacted to criticism of the 100 euro allowances, saying that they have been an electoral commitment of the Vetëvendosje Movement since last year.
Dugolli stated that similar measures have been continuously taken by the Kurti Government since 2021, following the increase in prices as a result of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
"These kinds of measures have been in place since 2021, since we came to government and promised support for citizens after price increases after the pandemic, the war in Ukraine. The Kurti government has designed measures for every year," he said on KTV's "60 Minutes."
According to Dugolli, claims that these measures are being taken on the eve of the elections do not hold up, since - as he stated - the elections were not desired by the ruling party.
"This has been our electoral commitment since last year. On February 9, we won the elections and our commitment was that we will continue with the same measures because inflation and price increases are hitting citizens," declared Dugolli.
He added that the government's goal is for "the hand of the state to be close to the citizens," while saying that he does not believe there are legal problems related to these decisions.
Dugolli also denied that the party is panicking for votes, saying that they are seeing "great enthusiasm" from citizens on the ground.
The acting government today decided to allocate 100 euros each to pensioners, children, the private sector and students. It also increased the allowance for unemployed mothers from 325 to 500 euros.
The decision was widely criticized as being made for vote buying on the eve of the elections.
Early parliamentary elections will be held on June 7.
Azem calls the decision to allocate 100 euros to the private sector "ridiculous"
The President of the Private Sector Workers' Union, Jusuf Azemi, has reacted to today's decision by the acting Government to allocate 100 euros each to students, pensioners, children and private sector workers.
At a press conference, Azemi said that private sector workers have been discriminated against in relation to those in the public sector, emphasizing that the difference in financial support is large and unfair.
"We actually think that every time the Government of Kosovo takes action to stimulate workers, both public and private, it creates such a big divide that it is something unpredictable," Azemi declared.
He said that while public sector workers have received 13th salaries worth a total of around 65 million euros, the private sector, according to him, will only benefit from around 20 million euros in total.
"Public sector workers have received an average of 750 euros for the 13th salary, while private sector workers will only receive 100 euros per worker," he said.
According to Azemi, there is also discrimination with the criteria set for benefits.
"In a way, it's another form of degradation that they've done to us, because public sector workers have also received those with salaries over 1000 euros, while this decision does not apply to private sector workers and private sector workers will only receive those with salaries under 1000 euros," said Azemi.
He accused the Government that the decision was made for electoral reasons and not for real support of workers.
"The government did not do it out of will, it did it out of its own personal gain, because you know that we are on the eve of elections. I thought that the minimum that would be done would be to at least allocate half a salary to private sector workers, but to drop it to the level of 100 euros, this is truly ridiculous and inhumane," he declared.
Azemi said that most private sector workers may be left out of this scheme due to a lack of contracts and problems with pension contributions.
"We are convinced that the number of workers who will receive this ridiculous incentive will not even reach 100 thousand, because the vast majority of private sector workers do not have employment contracts at all. A large part of them do not know how to fill out the applications and I think that a trick has been played here too," he said.
Economist Misini: 100 euro allowances deepen poverty
Economics professor Shkumbin Misini has commented on the allocation of 100 euros for several categories by the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti.
On the "tre8tre" show on KTV, he said that the 100 euro increases do not mitigate inflation but represent a deepening of poverty.
"The 100 euro supplements do not mitigate inflation, this represents a deepening of poverty. In the short term, it has an effect because imagine a pensioner who receives 150 euros, giving him another 100 euros, no matter how little, will mitigate inflation right there and then. But in the medium and long term, it impoverishes the country's economy. The biggest beneficiaries of these financial means are the countries that export products to Kosovo," said Misini.
According to him, this Government has no right to distribute allowances as it is only a government in office and is thus attempting to buy votes.
"The government does not have the right to distribute bonuses every time we go to the polls, because it is a government in office. Because this is vote buying and total corruption. But as for the opposition parties that are criticizing Kurti, they have done the same. During the campaign, we have had cases where parties that were previously in power have proclaimed such a system by promising an increase in salaries for the public sector and ignoring the private sector. So this is a primitive mindset of leaders who do not want to develop the economy but want to continue to manipulate the population more easily," the professor added.
As for allowances for mothers, the economist emphasized that the percentage of employed women is very low.
"The employment structure of women is 20 percent. It is a structure of the workforce that does not seek work. The question arises why does she not seek work. Imagine a mother who has two children, she is more likely to stay at home than to go to work. In order to send two children to public kindergarten, you need to be familiar with it because public kindergarten is another cost and sending them to private kindergarten costs from 250 to 350 euros and for example that mother receives a salary of 500-600 euros and if she has a second child she does not have the financial means to send them to kindergarten so she is forced to stay at home and take care of them. And now if a 22-23 year old mother spends 15 years of time raising her children because it is not only kindergarten but also school. So, for example, I have a child in first grade, who sends my child to school from 13:00 p.m.? So either I or my wife have to "I quit my job to take care of her, because if I send her to daycare, I can make up to 300 euros. So if your salary is low, you are forced to quit your job and send your children to daycare or daycare," Misini declared.
DnV: The division of payments by the incumbent Government is a legal violation
Photo: Driton Paçarada
Democracy in Action has assessed that the decision of the incumbent Government to distribute one-time payments to different categories of citizens, just a short time before the elections, constitutes a legal violation and, as they said, represents a classic case of misuse of public resources during the election period.
DnV has stated that the legislation prohibits the use of public resources for purposes that influence or may influence the will of voters.
"This principle applies to any form, including the use of the state budget, but also the use of vehicles, offices and public administration during the campaign - to create electoral benefits... Furthermore, the distribution of massive financial packages creates a direct impact on the electoral environment and violates the equality of competition between political entities, creating an unfair advantage for the ruling party," the reaction states.
DnV recalled that the Assembly of Kosovo had not approved the initiative to amend the law on the budget, within which funds for such a financial package were foreseen. Therefore, it assessed that this decision also represents an excess of the provisions of the Law on Government, which clearly limits the mandate of a government in office in making decisions with financial implications, especially when they do not stem from regular annual planning and the current budget.
"This situation is made even more problematic by the fact that financial aid is distributed in a general manner and without any new emergency situation that would justify such urgent measures. This makes it difficult to separate social policy from electoral intervention, since support for citizens must be built through sustainable policies, planned and handled through regular institutional procedures, and not through improvised decisions on the eve of elections," it continues.
Democracy in Action has called on institutions to refrain from using public resources for campaign purposes and to respect legal and democratic standards that guarantee free and fair elections.
OEAK: Instead of one-time payments, focus should shift towards investments
The American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo has expressed concern about the measures taken by the incumbent Government to allocate financial resources to several categories, stating that the temporary financial measures provide only short-term relief and do not address the necessary structural factors for sustainable economic development.
In a response, the Chamber stressed that measures that focus on stimulating short-term consumption "risk producing limited long-term economic impact, especially in an economy like Kosovo's, where a significant portion of consumption growth translates into increased imports, rather than increased domestic production and investment."
The Chamber considers that such measures also limit the availability of public funds for initiatives and investments with greater economic impact and broader, longer-term benefits.
"Instead of temporary and one-off payments, the focus should shift towards investments in infrastructure and policies that strengthen the private sector ecosystem. Strategic investments in transport and energy infrastructure, digital infrastructure, education and workforce development create conditions that enable businesses to expand their activities and increase productivity," the chamber's response states.
Just a few days before the new parliamentary elections, the incumbent government has allocated 100 euros each to pensioners, children, the non-public sector, and students, and has increased allowances for mothers.
Increase in allowances and 100 euros allocated by the Government, Abdixhiku: Vote buying
Lumir Abdixhiku (Photo: Facebook)
The leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, has said that the package approved by the incumbent Government for financial resources for several categories is vote buying on the eve of the elections.
He said that Vetëvendosje is using every means to stay in power.
"Vote buying, propaganda. Insults, insults, successive crises. Every possible means to stay in power at any cost. No idea. No project. No work. This is not an inflation package. This is a package of attempted vote buying. A belated attempt to cover up the government's failure with the citizens' own money. An electoral insult to the dignity and real needs of the people of the country, of those who leave them as the penultimate in Europe. The penultimate!" Abdixhiku wrote on Facebook.
Abdixhiku added that citizens need welfare not "as an electoral favor" but to be built as a permanent state policy.
The current government has allocated 100 euros each for pensioners, children, the non-public sector, and students. It has also approved an increase in maternity benefits.