With 61 votes on Thursday’s plenary senate, the Parliament of Kosovo approved in the second reading the draft law on the minimum wage in Kosovo, which is expected to be 264 euros. The session was boycotted by the opposition parties after the clashes that happened at the beginning of it.

The minimum wage in Kosovo ranges from 130 to 170 euros.

Social policy researcher Artan Mustafa stated that the approval of this draft law is welcomed because the minimum wage has not been updated since 2011.

“Proportionately with the income in the country, it will be among the highest salaries in Europe, but there are well-founded concerns of the public about its adequacy due to the increase in the cost of living after the pandemic and inflation,” Mustafa declared for Prishtina Insight.

Mustafa further emphasized that the biggest problem is the lack of correlation with the average income.

“The biggest problem with the minimum wage, in my view, is the lack of a transparent formula and its lack of correlation with the median income – which would ensure that the wage is updated automatically and adequately every year,” Mustafa added.

After the vote in the Assembly, the acting head of the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans Organization, Faton Klinaku, criticized this decision.

“As I am finding out from the media, after the opposition left the hall, the deputies of this unscrupulous government passed the law on the minimum wage, removing the veterans of the KLA war. We will meet as governing bodies and decide on the steps we will take,” he wrote on Facebook.

The draft law that passed the second reading does not have a connection with the minimum wage of the pension received by war veterans, as it has been until now.

This means that veterans will continue to receive a pension in the amount of 170 euros.

The MP from the opposition party PDK, Blerta Deliu, on Friday, in a media conference, called the government’s latest decisions scandalous.

“Two of the last decisions of the government harm our fight for freedom. The government has coordinated with Milan Radojcic on the law for veterans, this law which excludes them from the minimum wage and on the other hand, they have prolonged the investigation of war crimes till 2000,” she declared.

This law, in principle, was approved in 2022, despite the protests organized by the veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who demanded their inclusion in the draft law.

To enter into force, the draft law must also be signed by the president.