Kosovo

​Kosovo's government in the end

“The government must function for a certain period of time until the conditions for elections have been created, i.e. until the fight against the pandemic has been won”, says the Secretary-General of the oppositional AKR, Makolli.

There was sharp criticism from the German and French sides in advance. In a joint statement, the action was condemned against the background of the Corona crisis: "Kosovo needs a stable and fully functional government to overcome this crisis".

The official occasion was a different assessment regarding necessary measures in the Corona crisis, which subsequently led to the dismissal of the Minister of Interior from the LDK by the head of government.

The LDK had been "ignored and humiliated" by Kurti, it was immediately stated by the party leader Mustafa. However, an insurmountable mutual mistrust - also visible to the public - had already overshadowed the protracted coalition negotiations. The two-party leaders found no common basis for a trustful cooperation.

Of greater significance for the vote out, however, was probably the newly elected prime minister's refusal to lift the punitive tariffs on Serbia introduced by the previous government without conditions at short notice. Power struggles in the background, in which President Thaci may also have played a not insignificant role, also contributed to this decision. The Americans - especially their special envoy for the peace negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, Richard Grenell - found Kurti too headstrong and a difficult interlocutor from the outset ("Mr Kurti is making a serious mistake"). The American ambassador in Pristina welcomed the motion of censure via Twitter.

Sitting of Parliament: One hour of women

The vote in Parliament was preceded by a heated debate, in which, however, women, in particular, stood out from their male colleagues with their contributions. Mimoza Kusari-Lila of the Self-Determination Party (VV) spoke of a "session of contradictions and paradoxes". She said that the Kosovar parliament would go down in history for toppling its government during a pandemic that required all its strength: "Today's pictures have shown the world media that Kosovo is the only state in the world that has made such a request in this situation. Kosovo had not lived up to its responsibility as a state.

Equally impressive was the speech of the Speaker of Parliament, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the LDK's top candidate in the October 2019 elections, who maintained her critical stance towards her own party in this fiercely polarising debate, which lasted almost 12 hours. Together with two other LDK MPs, she voted against her group's motion. A new government, according to Osmani-Sadriu, made up of LDK and losers of the recent election does not correspond to the will of the people. She called the whole process around the vote of no confidence irresponsible and spoke of "ego to power".