Life in Kosovo invited in the debate: Behar Selimi, MP of PDK; Vjosa Osmani, MP of LDK; Dardan Sejdiu, Vetëvendoje Movement; Driton Selmanaj, Kosovo Democratic Institute; and Besa Shahini, European Initiative for Stability.
Among the things discussed was the privatization of Kosovo Post and Telecom. In the plenary session that was held for this issue, the government could not collect the votes in favor of privatization. The biggest opposition party voted against PTK privatization. Behar Selimi, the MP of PDK, stated that “PTK privatization is one of the most discussed issues in the assembly. There were many reasons that prevented the closing of this issue, such as technical problems, no uniformity between individuals in one group/party, and because privatization is not seen as indispensable yet”.
Moreover, during the plenary session LDK left the assembly room. Vjosa Osmani, MP of LDK, states that “PTK privatization is one of the most sensitive issues and every time the parliament discuses about this issue LDK always opposed it.”LDK asked to return this process in the initial state because every tender that is released should have in prior the assembly decision and the privatization of PTK did not have the assembly decision.
Moreover, Driton Selmanaj, from KDI, says that “in 2011 the government contraband this issue by adding an annex of privatization in the budget law.”
In addition, Dardan Sejdiu, from Vetevendosje, said that “Mr. Fadil Ismaili, minister of Economic Development, did not answer some of the questions asked in relation to this issue. We need to know where does the money comes, the financial reports, and the auditor’s report because PTK is one of the biggest national assets that controls 1.2 million subscribers”.
Furthermore, it is predicted that in spring of 2014 early elections might take place in Kosovo and in Serbia as well. Mrs. Besa Shahini said that “usually we do not decide to do things that are good for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia which is very important for Brussels, Serbia and also for Kosovo.” Whereas, Vjosa Osmani said that she agrees that the Kosovo – Serbia dialogue might have an impact on the elections of 2014 but she also said that there is a chance that the leading party will chose the time that they want without asking the other parties.
In this debate it was also mentioned that the upcoming elections (national and local) will be very important because Kosovo will show if the elections are followed by fraud and irregularities or if Kosovo improved and the major irregularities during elections will be reduced.
Finally, the debaters concluded the debate by talking about the election abuse. They said that it is important to have many local and international observers that do not allow the ballot to be abused. If these elections are passed without irregularities we will show that Kosovo is progressing and also shows that we have representative institutions.