Prishtina Insight #9
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February 13 - 26, 2009 Issue No. 9 FREE COPY FEATURE Kosovo History Books Scrap Nationalist Myths page 10 Business Kosovo Budget ‘Depends on 150 Businesses’ Photo by: Petrit Rrahmani for Prishtina Insight Prishtina for Rrahmani Petrit by: Photo First meeting of the newly established Kosovo Security Council. Delays Over Key Posts Condemned page 5 Kosovo’s government accused of dragging out the selection of heads for important state institutions. ARTE By Shega A’Mula and the BIRN opposition Alliance for the Future the formal creation of the Security for Policy Research and team in Prishtina of Kosovo party, AAK, told Council, an advisory body tasked Development, KIPRED, says the Prishtina Insight. with safeguarding Kosovo’s nation- government is to blame. “The par- Clown’s Testament Last Wednesday saw the inaugu- al security and sovereignty. ties want to politicize the institu- n the threshold of the first ration of Kosovo’s first Intelligence The fragile and occasionally vio- tion; this was the case with the pre- anniversary of the declara- chief, former police lieutenant- lent situation in the north of vious government mandate, and it Otion of independence, colonel Bashkim Smakaj. Under the Kosovo remains the country’s is the same now,” he said. Kosovo’s government and parlia- constitution, the President and biggest security challenge. There has been similar criticism ment are racing to finalize work Prime Minister are responsible for Ibrahim Makolli, of the leading regarding delays over who is to run that has been delayed throughout selecting the post, a decision which opposition Alliance for a New the Central Electoral Commission, the year. was months overdue. Kosovo, AKR, said the time lag had CEC, an institution charged with In less than two weeks, the gov- Memli Krasniqi, government only increased the fragility of the organizing elections. This is the ernment finally recruited a chief spokesperson, said delays had situation in the northern Serb-dom- first time that Kosovars are fully in for the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, occurred because of the sensitivity inated half of Mitrovica. charge of organizing such polls. page 7 formed the Security Council and of the position. “It is more impor- “The delay in completing these Memli Krasniqi said the parlia- attempted to choose a guardian of tant to get the right person for the tasks conflicts with the constitution ment rather than the government the public interest, an job than to get someone quickly,” he we ratified nine months ago, and was responsible for selecting the GUIDE Ombudsperson. said. this reluctance to take charge is cre- Ombudsperson and the head of the The Haunting Charm of Authorities have also rushed to However, security expert ating a gap for more instability,” he CEC. fill other key public positions, such Ramadan Qehaja said the delays told Prishtina Insight. “The situa- However, critics of the govern- Artanë, or Novo Brdo as police commanders. held negative implications for tion in the north might have been ment say the two main ruling par- Opposition parties have relent- Kosovo, effecting stability and the [further] under control if these ties, the PDK and LDK, which hold lessly criticized the hastened com- overall image of the new country’s institutions had been created earli- most seats in the assembly, could pletion of these obligations, which institutions. er,” he added. have pushed for a decision on these they say should have been done “If it was formed six or seven Kosovo’s assembly failed today to institutions had they wanted to. months ago, not a few days before months ago, it would have planted vote for an Ombusperson, as nei- Ilir Deda, of KIPRED, said this Independence Day. its seeds throughout the whole ter- ther candidates received enough clearly was not their agenda. “They “The government has left many ritory of Kosovo, ensuring stability votes. have focused [instead] on getting tasks behind and now they are care- and becoming as effective as possi- The assembly has failed to vote in more and more party loyalists into lessly completing absolutely every- ble,” he said. an Ombudsperson three times in institutions that should be inde- page 8 thing before the first anniversary of The appointment of the head of the last two years. Policy analyst pendent and comprise professional independence”, Ardian Gjini, of the the intelligence agency allowed for Ilir Deda, of the Kosovar Institute people,” he says. FOOD & DRINK Politics City A Hint of Provence in EU Must Press Serbia To Independence Brings Only Prishtina Work With EULEX-Pack Disappointment to Mitrovica The European Union must get Serbia to accept While most Kosovars will soon be celebrating the EU law and justice mission to Kosovo and in the first anniversary of Kosovo’s independence, turn also convince Kosovo Serbs to work with it, some people don’t feel much cause to celebrate. European Parliament deputy Doris Pack tells Ramadan Fejza, an Albanian from Mitrovica, Prishtina Insight. Pack told Prishtina Insight in an drives a blue “Nori” cab for eight hours a day, for interview that the EULEX law and justice mission which he earns about 90 to 100 euros a month. meant to help Kosovo ... In his four-member family... page 4 page 6 page 9 is supported by: 2 • February 13 - 26, 2009 marketing news • February 13 - 26, 2009 3 Haradinaj: Government Failing Editor’s word to Tackle Problems Fol! One year on after independence, the opposition leader claims Kosovo has a government that focuses more on its image than on addressing key issues. the government has been too slow “There is a package of nomina- By Vjosa Musliu and in setting up key institutions for tions that the government would By Krenar Gashi Jeta Abazi in Prishtina the country, stipulated in the con- have liked to see in these institu- stitution that entered into force on tions”, the AAK chief said; this osovo’s former prime minis- June 15, 2008. was especially true in the case of ter, Ramush Haradinaj, says The government has been very Kosovo’s head of Intelligence. he first year after a country Kthe current administration tardy in establishing the Kosovo Since Haradinaj’s acquittal from declares independence is cru- is governing without any plan and Security Force for example. The The Hague, relations between him Tcial. Either the country gains that political interference is delay- row over the selection process for and Thaci have been icy. While the momentum, and a clear course of ing the formation of the key state members is still ongoing. The former has asked to meet the how statehood will work is set, or institutions. authorities also waited nine Prime Minister, Thaci has appar- the opportunity is missed. The leader of the opposition months after the ratification of the ently refused to accept him. This past year will never come Alliance for Kosovo’s Future, AAK, constitution to appoint a head for During the funeral of Kosovo’s again. I can see the point of some told Prishtina Insight that the gov- the Intelligence Service. former president, Ibrahim Rugova, who boast about having built more ernment was not focusing on The Security Council was set up both Thaci and Haradinaj were schools and roads than ever before addressing essential problems but just six days before the first present but they did not shake and, most importantly of all, of hav- on public appearance. anniversary of state independ- hands with one another. ing successfully navigated a tricky Press freedom in Kosovo is con- ence. Similar delays have been Senior leaders of the AAK have year without seeing any violent inci- sidered low in the latest progress applied to the post of been hurling serious insults at dents against the Serbs in Kosovo. report of the European Ombudsperson and to the Thaci’s government, even compar- But I can’t help thinking about the Commission and in the findings of Constitutional Court. ing it to that of the Nazi German missed opportunities and about how Freedom House. While the government argues leader, Adolf Hitler. we never talk about them. “The government has [tried to] that it must not rush to create Haradinaj and Thaci are both We never talk about the 50 per ensure control over the media,” these posts and set up these insti- former members of Kosovo’s cent of our population who are Haradinaj said. By taking control tutions, the opposition camp holds Liberation Army, KLA, but went unemployed. We built schools but of the media, the government was that the reason for the delays is the their own ways politically when don’t do anything about the rigid seeking to “polish up” its image. government’s desire to insert its they each founded their own politi- byPhoto Insight Prishtina for Rrahmani Petrit academic environment that pro- The opposition leader adds that own people into these key bodies. cal parties. Ramush Haradinaj duces people who can’t even spell and speak correctly – a virtual army of 30,000 youngsters, each year entering a job market that can’t Kosovo: No Talks employ them. We hardly ever talk about the fact that even in the post-UNMIK era, public enterprises are still headed Before Serbia by directors who are stalwarts of the ruling parties. Clearly, their interest is for these companies to Recognition make money to serve those political parties rather than to better manage BALKAN INSIGHT,PRISHTINA Kosovo as an independent and and improve public services. osovo’s parliament speaker sovereign state. Therefore, these How about talking about my jour- said Prishtina was under negotiations are impossible; we nalist colleagues who have never Kno obligation to negotiate cannot negotiate on technical lent more support to the govern- with Serbia even on technical issues”.