Rarely (or almost never) do Kosovo politicians manage to deliver a truly state-of-the-art, understandable and inspiring speech about the democratic system. Before the Kosovo Assembly began its new legislature, there was a proposal on where the new speaker or speaker of the Kosovo Parliament should be oriented and learn.
The start of the new parliament’s work is not a matter of appearances. Negotiations for the formation of a government are not just a matter of sharing posts. First and foremost is the coalition agreement and the harmonization of programs between the parties that want to form the government. In the past, we have seen in Kosovo an A4-sized letter, which contained a few general points and mostly empty content. This was called a coalition agreement. It was a clear message to the electorate: forget what we promised during the electoral campaign. The priority is the distribution of posts.
I had the pleasure of watching, listening to, and reading the speech of the new speaker of the German parliament. Julia Klöckner, a long-time member of parliament and experienced politician of the conservative CDU party, was elected on March 25. Her speech – with about 20 characters – lasted almost half an hour. And for the most part it was truly inspiring, solemn, dignified, far-sighted, self-critical, advisory, and warning.
Rarely (or almost never) do Kosovo’s politicians manage to deliver a truly state speech, understandable and inspiring for the democratic system. Before the Kosovo Assembly began the new legislature, there was a proposal on where the new speaker or speaker of the Kosovo Parliament should be oriented and learn. Let him read Julia Klöckner’s speech.
At the beginning of her speech, she said that being elected to public office is less an honor and more a duty or obligation. Then she warned how she would conduct herself as president of the Bundestag, as the German parliament is called: “I have the strong will to fulfill the task that has always been entrusted to me impartially, without panic and without fear – clear on issues, but also unifying in relations with others.”
Then he continued: “Monitoring the time of speeches from the chair of the speaker (of Parliament) is easy; there is a clock for this purpose. But I will not only look at the clock, I will also listen – both on the podium and in the hall. For this I have a clear measure: courtesy. We must conduct a tough debate, we must face that debate, endure it – yes, this is part of the job – according to clear rules, clear procedures and clear majorities. I will make sure that we maintain a civilized behavior towards each other and, if we do not do this, we must learn to do so. Yes, the style of the debate and respect in relations with each other are important. The way we communicate and exchange arguments here – I am convinced of this – affects social debates. We are trying here in the plenary session to find solutions to the problems that are disturbing our country.”
The speech also contains many other valuable formulations: “The constitution of a new parliament is always a solemn moment. It is an event that connects continuity with novelty, with renewal.”
Sometimes people seem to forget that it is not self-evident to elect democratically and send to parliament people who represent the will of free citizens. Over 70 percent of the world’s population lives in countries with autocratic or semi-autocratic forms of government, said Klöckner. It would be good for politicians and Kosovar society to be clear about this.
Every country has a government, but not every country has an opposition. The existence of the opposition makes democracy real. “Democracy means – from ‘Demos’, people – therefore, rule by the people. We do not rule, but the people have entrusted us with this task,” added the new president of the German Parliament in the wake of her speech.
For decades, German society has resisted political extremism. The established parties have cooperated with each other, keeping the enemies of democracy at bay. But in the last 10 years, the political arena has changed with the rise of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been declared partially extremist by the German judiciary. None of the established parties is willing to cooperate with the AfD. But it is impossible to completely ignore this party, which came in second in the parliamentary elections held in February. Bearing in mind the changes in the political landscape, the German parliament speaker emphasized in her speech: “The majority is not automatically right, but neither is the minority. Let us criticize each other; this is part of the process. But let us not denigrate each other personally. We do not take sides just because we take a step towards each other. ‘Let us not make the mistake of doubting the mental capacity or the goodwill of every person with a different opinion’. This is not my saying, but that of (former chancellor from the late 19th century) Otto von Bismarck.”
A democracy’s prerequisite for moving forward is compromise. Only those politicians who, when they start looking for a solution, take into account that the other side may also be right on some point, have long-term success. And it is precisely this point that must be integrated into the solution. Julia Klöckner’s speech was built in this spirit.
No parliament is perfect. It can’t be, because societies aren’t perfect either. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore the problems. The German speaker mentioned the inadequate representation of women in the house of representatives. “Women make up less than a third of the members of parliament. However, more than half of our society is made up of women. A parliament that speaks for everyone must adequately represent social groups; and this, when it comes to gender, is still something that has not been fully achieved everywhere. Because since 1918, electoral law has not prohibited women from running, but the conditions still seem to do so.” In order to increase the representation of women in parliament, conditions must be improved.
And at the end of this text, a proposal: Based on German practice, the Parliament of Kosovo could make a change to the Rules of Procedure and give the right to chair the first session to the MP with the longest tenure and not, as has been the case until now, to the oldest MP. All this for reasons of efficiency in work.
The full speech of the President of the German Parliament can be found at this link: