Deadline looms in Kosovo parliamentary stalemate

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti.[AFP] A months long standoff over Kosovo's next parliamentary speaker is dragging the tiny Balkan nation toward an unparalleled crisis, experts warn, ahead of a deadline this weekend. After more than 50 attempts, Kosovo's MPs now have just two days to meet a court mandate to pick their new speaker, a key step toward Albin Kurti's possible return to office. "This is an unparalleled situation, an undefined vacuum and chaos," law professor Mazllum Baraliu told AFP. Although Kurti's Vetevendosje party topped the February elections, it did not win the seats needed to install its chosen speaker, Albulena Haxhiu a pick that opponents view as too political for the role. Even if the Vetevendosje overcome this impasse, the party will still need to negotiate its way to a majority to govern. Last month, after dozens of failed votes, the Constitutional Court set a 30-day deadline, which expires at midnight on Saturday. Baraliu said instead of cooperating to protect the state, 120 MPs instead had "trampled" it. "That is absurd," he said. Without a speaker, the parliament can't be formed, and no new minister, including the prime minister, can be sworn in -- forcing Kurti into a caretaker role for more than five months. "The Assembly has turned into a circus of democracy," Eugen Cakolli, from independent monitor the Kosovo Democratic Institute, said. "Without a doubt, it is one of the most serious, longest and most consequential crises in the recent political history of Kosovo," Cakolli said. In Kosovo, the inaugural session of parliament must be reconvened every 48 hours until a speaker is elected. Ordinarily, there is no legal time limit for how long this can continue. "The citizens will pay the highest price from this political experiment that risks plunging the country into an institutional dead end," economist Safet Gerxhaliu said. Facing ongoing sanctions and a "frozen" accession process into the European Union, the situation was alarming for the continent's newest country, he added. "Kosovo has been forgotten by the EU," said Gerxhaliu. The lack of a functioning government also meant Kosovo risked losing EU funding of more than EUR883 million ($1.04 billion), said Njomza Arifi, a researcher at the Pristina-based think tank Group for Legal and Political Studies. Outside Pristina's parliament, there have been few signs of public outcry over the stalemate, but one man has become a symbol of protest. "I have no other homeland MPs, don't make it collateral for stubbornness," lawyer Arianit Koci told media after hacking at his hair with an electric trimmer in his latest stunt. Earlier, he had brought four donkeys to the entrance of the Assembly, a not-so-subtle jibe at "who is leading Kosovo". His presence has meant most MPs pick up their pace when entering the Assembly. Inside, however, there has been little change. Early this week the country's President, Vjosa Osmani, called on the court to clarify what would happen if the order lapsed. "This is an attempt to prevent irreparable consequences for the constitutional order of the country," she said. But as the deadline approached, even the nation's would-be leader was unsure of the outcome. "I don't know what will happen," Kurti said in a brief response to reporters' questions on Monday.

Deadline looms in Kosovo parliamentary stalemate

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Deadline looms in Kosovo parliamentary stalemate

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