The elected members of the ninth legislature of the Assembly of Kosovo have 24 days to constitute the Parliament. This is after the Constitutional Court of Kosovo issued its verdict on June 26, stating that the members of the Assembly are obliged to constitute the Assembly within 30 days.
However, even this verdict has failed to unblock the political situation. The Vetëvendosje Movement, as the winning party in the elections, continues to insist that Albulena Haxhiu be a candidate for Speaker of the Assembly and insists that the vote be held in secret.
On the other hand, the other opposition parties until yesterday, PDK, LDK, AAK and the Social Democratic Initiative, strongly oppose the voting being held in secret, considering this a violation of the Constitution.
After the Constitutional Court announced the verdict, the acting prime minister invited the leaders of the political entities to a joint meeting, but this meeting did not bring any concrete results either.
As a result, on July 1, the attempt to constitute the Assembly failed for the fourth time.
What will happen if the 30-day deadline passes and the Kosovo Assembly is not constituted?
Mazllum Baraliu, an expert on constitutional issues, said that political entities are obliged to implement the decision announced by this institution.
For Telegrafi, Baraliu said that if the deadline passes and the Assembly is not constituted, then all MPs will become violators of the Constitution.
"The judgments of the Constitutional Court are mandatory to be implemented by every physical and legal entity in Kosovo. In this case, even the highest institution of the state, the Assembly, and also political entities should think carefully that all leaders and deputies of the Assembly violate the Constitution and become joint violators of the Constitution of Kosovo. This decision is an inseparable component of the text of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo", said Baraliu.
Mazllum Baraliu
Analyzing the situation, Baraliu said that the only solution remains to reach a political agreement.
"The only and necessary solution is to have a political agreement, an agreement to hold votes and elect the president and vice president."
Baraliu also mentioned a second option, where he said that some MPs could come out and vote for the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the Assembly.
"So, some of the deputies should definitely not sit around like that, and not listen servilely to their leaders, and not perform their duties. They should think carefully, and vote. So, 3,4 deputies at most should do it and say we have a party, we have a leader, but the Assembly and the state are more important," he emphasized.
Baraliu said that if some MPs vote for the constitution, it is not that they are voting for someone personally, but that they are creating the Assembly, and the Assembly belongs to everyone, not just the winning party.
"So if the winning party, which has the main responsibility, is stubbornly and persistently behaving with disregard, even indirectly, towards the decision of the Constitutional Court, then the MPs should have political responsibility and respect for the assembly to form the Assembly," he underlined.
Melazim Koci, a political analyst, also says that if the Kosovo Assembly is not constituted within 30 days, then we will have a vacuum, chaos, and institutional anarchy.
"There will be only two instances left to bring the country out of the institutional chaos/vacuum: 1. The President, who according to Article 84 of the Constitution is the guarantor of the functioning of the institutions established by the Constitution, and the Constitutional Court, which according to Article 112 of the Constitution is the final authority in the Republic of Kosovo for the interpretation of the Constitution: According to Article 116 of the Constitution, failure to comply with the decisions of the Constitutional Court constitutes a violation of the Constitution, because its decisions are binding on everyone," Koci said.
Koci has stated that under these circumstances, if the Assembly is not constituted within 30 days, it is expected that there will be coordinated action by the President and the Constitutional Court.
What can the President and the Constitutional Court do?
"Although the Constitution has not foreseen such a situation, failure to comply with the decision of the Constitutional Court, which constitutes a serious violation of the Constitution, may lead to extraordinary measures such as the dissolution of Parliament, the calling of new elections or any other form of institutional intervention to restore constitutional order, by the President and the Constitutional Court," he stressed.
According to Koci, this would have serious consequences and therefore he hopes that this does not happen.
"Instead, I hope that the political forces will agree on the constitution of the Parliament and, as their first task, determine the amendment of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo," he said.
He further added that "Because besides the political aspect (lack of consensus, compromise...) the crisis in Kosovo is also caused by the legal vacuum with Article 67 of the Constitution. This article gives the right to the first party or group to propose the Speaker of the Parliament, but without clarifying what to do if the first party does not secure a majority. Does this right pass to the second party and how much time does the first party have to consume this right. This issue cannot be resolved even by the Constitutional Court, because the clarification of this article is an amendment to the Constitution, which can only be done by the Assembly of Kosovo."
Otherwise, regarding the created blockade, President Vjosa Osmani will begin meetings with the leaders of political entities today. The meetings will be held separately with each leader.
On Thursday, the constitutive session will also continue, starting at 11:00./telegraph/
