Kosovo Government. Photo: Atdhe Mulla.

Demarcation bill to be voted on after no-confidence motion

Kosovo government postpones a vote on the Montenegro border deal amid calls for snap elections and an impending no-confidence motion set for a vote on Wednesday.

The border demarcation deal with Montenegro will be voted on after the no-confidence motion, the Kosovo government informed on Monday.

The deal was initially supposed to come in front of the Assembly today. After PM Isa Mustafa and Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli met with US Ambassador Greg Delawie in the morning, the Kosovo government issued a statement saying the bill would be voted on only after the Assembly votes on the no-confidence motion initiated by the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, last week.

“Today there was a meeting between the coalition partners with representatives from the international community in which the border demarcation [deal] was discussed, and it was decided that it will be sent to the Assembly after the [no-confidence] motion,” explained Arban Abrashi, member of the General Council of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, after an impromptu meeting of the governing party leadership.

Abrashi added that LDK “[does] not believe that the motion will pass.” He also believes that the demarcation deal, one of the two remaining conditions for European visa liberalization, will pass.

Forty-two MPs, including four representatives from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, signed the no-confidence motion on Friday. For over a year, opposition parties have protested in and out of parliament against the demarcation deal with Montenegro and the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities. The opposition parties NISMA, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and Vetevendosje maintain that the governing coalition LDK-PDK has failed and demand snap elections.

The extraordinary session to vote on the no-confidence motion is scheduled for Wednesday.

“The government was not courageous enough to bring the [border demarcation] deal to the Assembly. It would be very good for the Republic of Kosovo if the border demarcation bill is not ratified in the Kosovo Assembly,” Vetevendosje leader Visar Ymeri said in a press conference.

“The Assembly should disband this Government, this bad governance,” said Ymeri, adding that it is necessary for the government to be ousted on Wednesday.

“This government is numbering its last days because it will fall through the [no-confidence] motion on Wednesday,” said Pal Lekaj, the head of the AAK presidency.

08/05/2017 - 14:38

08 May 2017 - 14:38

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