Kosovo Government’s Legality Questioned After PM’s Resignation – OpEd
Kosovo’s outgoing prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, who resigned last week, said he will ask the Constitutional Court to decide if his cabinet can legally make decisions until a new government is in place.
By Perparim Isufi
One week after unexpectedly announcing his resignation as prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj convened his cabinet on Friday amid uncertainty about whether or not his government is now legally entitled to take any decisions before new elections.
Haradinaj, who referred to himself as the “former prime minister” at a press conference after the cabinet meeting, insisted that he will not allow a “vacuum of governance” until a new administration is in place.
“As head of the government, I will address the Constitutional Court for an interpretation,” Haradinaj said.
Haradinaj announced his resignation last Friday after he was summoned for questioning as a suspect by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, which is probing wartime and post-war crimes in Kosovo.
He said he could not be Kosovo’s prime minister and a suspect at the same time.
Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hoxhaj, from Haradinaj’s coalition partner, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, questioned the legality of any decision that the outgoing premier’s government might make.
“I think that we need a legal interpretation. We can address topics that are urgent, but we cannot go on with the others,” Hoxhaj said on Friday.
Haradinaj said while resigning last week that the Kosovo government will continue functioning, but warned that new parliamentary elections would be coming soon.
President Hashim Thaci on Thursday announced that he will meet leaders of political parties next week “to overcome the situation created after the resignation of prime minister”.
However, opposition political parties have been strongly urging Thaci to announce a date for new elections.
“Snap elections [should be held] sooner rather than later,” opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party MP Albulena Haxhiu said on Friday, arguing that it was not legitimate for Haradinaj’s government to take any decisions.
