Mexhide Demolli-Nimani, executive director of Lévizje FOL, said that there are arrests of Public Radio and Television of Kosovo and that since Independence, according to her, no Government has seen such an approach towards the media.
"Since Independence, no Government has seen such an approach towards the media, against the critical voice, as it has happened during this Government. We have seen lynchings either for journalists or for certain mediums, but here perhaps even the part about Radio Television of Kosovo in the mentioned report (Progress Report) has taken up more space," said Demolli-Nimani.
According to her, there are captures of RTK, despite the fact that, as she says, at the beginning it was attempted to become an independent board.
"But that didn't last long and the changes over time because the board also has mandates and limits for each member of the board where the lottery is done, the approach was also changed. Normal that has taken place either from the resignation of the director, the deputy director or the acting director, the members of the board after all that scandal that happened regarding the publication of the news about two other mediums by RTK itself and all these have taken place and we also saw yesterday that we continue to have attacks from the current leaders of the public medium against other journalists", she said.
The Director of the FOL Movement said that she has never seen bigger attacks than this Government against the media and settings for any journalist who, as she said, "think differently". / Oath of Justice
Gashi: Single-source contracts lead to situations of misuse of the budget and failure to provide certain services
Diellor Gashi, senior researcher at the Initiative for Progress (INPO), in the show "Tempus" on KTV, said that resource contracts are being used by contracting authorities due to incompetence or irresponsibility in developing regular procedures.
"These contracts are being exploited by contracting authorities due to their incompetence or irresponsibility in developing regular procedures through open contracts, this has various consequences related to budget management, transparency and the exclusion of other operators of who can offer the same or better services in public procurement activities", said Gashi.
According to him, this may lead to situations of misuse of the budget where public money is damaged and also certain services may not be provided properly.
The researcher said that even in the Progress Report it is recommended to avoid this form of contracting services in procurement and to improve the way of formulating tender files and to complete the capacities of the contracting authorities in the definition of concrete, comprehensive and non-discriminatory specifications. / Oath of Justice
Jakaj: Lack of quorum - a chronic disease for the Assembly, is also mentioned in the EC Report
Naim Jakaj, senior researcher at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), said that the parliamentary majority is lacking for the formation of a quorum, which does not have the necessary majority of deputies to pass the laws.
Jakaj said in "Tempus" that the Progress Report has confirmed the findings of the IKD on the work of the Assembly.
"The Assembly is faced with difficulties in the quorum, for which we consider that this has already become a chronic disease, for which the parliamentary majority is primarily responsible, in the meantime the Progress Report mentions what we have also said, that the Assembly has increased in moreover, there is no longer even in the past legislatures how the process of approval with an accelerated procedure of the most important draft laws was increased", said Jakaj.
He said that in the past years it was the Law on Public Officials, the Law on the Bureau, the refusal of the Government to respond to the Assembly, which then influenced the weakening of the role of the Assembly.
Jakaj added that there was a lack of the ability of the Assembly to hold the Agencies accountable and to evaluate their performances.
According to him, there are a large number of Investigative Commissions where the parliamentary opposition has used this instrument of the parliamentary minority, and in the meantime the majority has refused in order to hinder the quorum in the investigative commissions.
"The largest parliamentary group has decreased to the number of 53, it does not have the necessary majority to pass the laws, except when it is finding certain deputies, but it is not carrying this out efficiently in the sense of building consensus even by write officially and transparently to the parliamentary group of the Serbian List", said Jakaj. / Oath of Justice
Jakaj: The government has not taken as a basis any remarks from the international factor or from the civil society
Naim Jakaj, senior researcher at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), in the show "Tempus" on KTV, said that the parliamentary majority has not taken as a basis the remarks of internationals or those of civil society.
Jakaj said that the Assembly or the parliamentary majority of the Vetëvendosje Movement did not take as a basis the remarks of the European Union, nor those of the opinion of the Venice Commission, nor the remarks of civil society.
"In 2021, when we make public the report on the Law on confiscation of unjustifiable wealth, our findings in that report are all confirmed in the Report of the Venice Commission, all the findings we made in relation to the Law on the Prosecutorial Council were also confirmed by the Venice Commission, then confirmed by other documents of international organizations by the American Embassy, as well as by the European Union", said Jakaj.
He said that there was an unreasonable and strange refusal of the Government and the Assembly not to include the opinions and not to take them as a basis. / Oath of Justice
Gashi: The Law on Public Procurement is not being implemented, it is also mentioned in the Progress Report
Diellor Gashi, senior researcher at the Initiative for Progress (INPO), said that the Public Procurement Law is not being implemented even though it is mentioned in the Progress Report, which was published on October 30, 2024.
He said in "Tempus" that it was foreseen in the legislative plan that by March it would be addressed to the Government and then to the Assembly, but that did not happen.
"There are a series of issues that must be addressed with this Law, starting from the issues related to the incorporation of the electronic public procurement platform that currently does not appear either in the provisions of the law or in other by-laws," he said. Gashi.
He added that there are other issues related to the functionalization of second-level bodies, that is, the Procurement Review Body.
"You know that for a long time now this body is not complete with all the responsible persons or the Board due to the resignation of the chairman of this board and what has happened is that he has become the acting officer, but that the lack of legal provisions makes that it is not known until when he will exercise that function of duty", said Gashi.
The researcher emphasized that it also has to do with the decision-making procedures within the PRB and the issue of complaints, one-source contracts, and others. / Oath of Justice
Jakaj: The Kurti government refuses to voluntarily be accountable to the institutions of justice
Naim Jakaj, senior researcher at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), said that the Kurti Government refuses to be accountable to the institutions of justice or other institutions, such as the Assembly of Kosovo.
Jakaj, in advance, said that since 2019 we do not have an Anti-Corruption Strategy, and as he pointed out, two drafts have been sent to two working groups.
"In the meantime, it has not managed to be approved because as IKD in the two working groups, in the two times when the Anti-Corruption Strategy has been brought, we have said that the Strategy contains constitutional flaws, legal flaws in the meantime it must be addressed . "Since March of this year, no issue has been addressed and there is no Anti-Corruption Strategy," said Jakaj.
Invited to "Tempus", researcher Jakaj emphasized that this shows a promise that the Kurti Government fails to make with strategic documents. He said that the Government is refusing to answer even before the opposition of the Assembly.
"Refuses to become part of the testimony or to voluntarily be responsible before the institutions of justice or institutions such as the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, to answer in a constitutional manner for the problems that have arisen to take the state reserves, the reserves oil, food reserves. It means the parliamentary majority has four extraordinary senates that does not participate and does not respond to the parliamentary opposition to inform the public of the findings or the problems or to respond to the Assembly as to why such a thing happened", said Jakaj .
According to Jakaj, same as The Strategy against Corruption is also the Strategy for the Rule of Law, where IKD showed how they have published two reports that show regression in each year.
"The entire report of the Rule of Law Strategy, where a part is dedicated to the anti-corruption fight, has certain problems and constitutional flaws which we as IKD have dealt with and then they are addressed to the Ministry of Justice", said Jakaj. / Oath of Justice
Mexhide Demolli-Nimani, executive director of the FOL Movement, in the "Tempus" show on KTV, said that there is no political will for the drafting of the Anti-Corruption Strategy.
"I think there is no will for expertise, fortunately in Kosovo there are still many donors who help various institutions and they would have brought any kind of expert if there was political will, but I suspect that this was missing as we are already entering the month of December next and it has been two years since the working group that will make this Strategy was drafted. Even the deadline for the drafting of a Strategy has been extended by almost a year and it was unreasonable to be a year late and not be able to do it in time", said Demolli-Nimani.
According to her, another year is passing and at every meeting of the working group, a draft different from the previous one was brought and they could not understand whether they are working on the same document or if there is interference from outside the work in the working group or what it's happening
She added that this shows that there was no political will, as according to her, it is easy to know what she wants to achieve with that Strategy and which sectors to focus on. / Oath of Justice
Civil society estimates that the findings of the Progress Report are similar to those of previous years
Mejhide Demolli-Nimani, executive director of the FOL Movement, said that this year's Progress Report is similar to last year's, as most of the findings are the same.
Invited to the show "Tempus" on KTV, Demolli-Nimani said that civil society highlights these shortcomings throughout the year, as she added that the Government should do more to address these findings.
"The very fact that all the recommendations, with the exception of one related to the new Customs Code, are partially addressed, or not addressed at all, shows quite well how much has been done in this direction. I think it is a very realistic report on the situation we are in and what has been done in this regard in terms of the integration process if we are aiming to be there", said Demolli-Nimani.
According to her, the findings have been almost repeated for two years and there is no progress either in public administration or in the justice sector. He said that we are worse in terms of media freedom.
Meanwhile, Diellor Gashi, senior researcher at the Initiative for Progress (INPO), said that the Report is almost a continuation of the findings and challenges identified by the previous Report. According to him, this is reflected in all sectors.
"As an organization we have identified and dealt with the issues related to public procurement that for us remain one of the challenging points for state institutions and what is worth highlighting is that the recommendations of the previous year's Progress Report remain the same in all points ", said Gashi. / Oath of Justice
