We have always respected the decisions of the Constitutional Court

The acting Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the executive he leads has respected all judgments issued by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.

This is how he answered journalists’ questions about whether he and his party, the Vetëvendosje Movement, will respect the Constitutional Court’s ruling regarding the issue of the constitution of the Assembly.

On August 8, the Constitutional Court issued a notice of the verdict on this matter, but the highest court in the country has not yet published the full verdict.

“There is no Constitutional Court ruling that the Government of Kosovo with me as Prime Minister has not respected. And, there is no Constitutional Court ruling that I, as the president of the LVV, as the largest entity in the country and the Assembly, have not respected. But, when they ask me again whether I will respect the Constitutional Court ruling, this makes me think that it will be unusual, unfair, unbearable, so that perhaps we should consider what we should do,” Kurti said.

According to the announcement, the Constitutional Court has ordered the Assembly to elect the new Speaker of Parliament within 30 days through open voting, putting the same candidate on the ballot no more than three times.

This one-month deadline will begin as soon as the full verdict is published, which is not yet known when that will happen.

The Constitutional Court’s announcement was welcomed by parties that were in opposition last term, but was criticized by Kurti’s LVV.

The LVV called the decision arbitrary, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) called it a constitutional and democratic victory, while the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) spoke of the overthrow of the dictatorship.

“Once again, I reiterate that we have always respected the judgments of the Constitutional Court, but this time, unlike June 26, we only have the notification of the Constitutional Court and we have the full judgment, which is being delayed, and which we must read in its entirety. On June 26, we had both the notification and the judgment on the same day. Now, on August 8, we had the notification, but we still do not have the judgment. When we read it, we will express our assessment of the merits. But, it is not good that we have this delay, and based on the notification, in my opinion, there is a discrepancy between this judgment, the full version of which we are still waiting for, and that of June 26 of the same composition of the Constitutional Court,” Kurti said on August 18.

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo previously told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the full verdict has not been published because all procedures stipulated in the Law on the Court and its Rules of Procedure have not yet been completed.

According to the Law on the Court, the decisions of the Constitutional Court must be in written form, reasoned and signed by the President of the Constitutional Court and the reporting judge.

However, the Court’s rules of procedure state that the secretariat publishes judgments immediately after signing.

However, there is no specific time limit for this issue. There is no mention of a deadline in either the Rules of Procedure or the Law on the Constitutional Court. In the past, the court has taken up to two weeks to fully publish its judgments.

The full judgment of the Constitutional Court, on the cases raised by the PDK and LDK, in addition to paving the way for the constitutive session to be held the following day, is expected to clarify more things.

The court is also likely to respond to a now-withdrawn request by Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, regarding what would happen if the Kosovo Assembly was not constituted by July 26 – the deadline previously set by the court through a judgment.

In her previous ruling, which the deputies ignored, the Constitutional Court had not indicated the legal consequences of such disregard.

The Constitutional Court can now indicate what the consequences will be if MPs again ignore the 30-day order to form a new Parliament.

The constitutive session for the constitution of the new parliamentary composition resulting from the February elections began on April 15. However, because no party managed to form a single majority and no political agreement was reached, the issue stalled at the election of the Speaker of the Assembly.

The LVV of the incumbent Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, won 48 seats and the other parliamentary parties have refused to vote for its candidate for Speaker of the Assembly, for whose appointment at least 61 votes are needed.

While LVV insists that Albulena Haxhiu is a worthy candidate, some of the largest parliamentary parties, such as PDK, LDK, and AAK, exclude her as “divisive.”

PDK came second with 24 seats, LDK third with 20, followed by Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo with 9, and the coalition between AAK and the Social Democratic Initiative, with 8.

Another 11 seats belong to minorities./ REL