gap no.4, april 2009 monitor - instituti gap · 3. naser canolli 4. hanefi muharremi 5. besnik...

Govt.Oppo

sition

ICR

of Kosovo Government Decisions

no.4, April 2009

gap monitor

Only after reactions from the International Civil Representative, Government changes members of Public Enterprises Boards

- Law on Government undergoes fundamental changes- The Law on Civil Service and Civil Servants’ Payments is adopted- Government takes action against “Swine Flu”- The 2009-2011 Strategy Against Corruption is adopted again

After ICR critiques, the Government changes Public Enterprises Board MembersGovernment allocates a budget for the Kosovo Intelligence AgencyGovernment unblocks Draft Law on PrishtinaMTEF 2010-2012 is approved, does not foresee an improved economic situationThe Government requests drafting of the National Migration Strategy and Action PlanThe Draft Law on Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo is approvedFrom now on, civil servants’ salaries will be regulated by lawGovernment changes the Law on Social Assistance SchemeThe Draft Law on Government undergoes fundamental changes€36,830 allocated for organizing the 2009 Job MarketThe Draft Law on Declaration, Origin and Control of Wealth is approvedThe Working Group for Drafting the Regulation on the Organization and Structuring of the Government, is foundedActions taken against “Swine Flu”The 2009-2011 Strategy Against Corruption is approved againThe Anti-Corruption Law is amendedLaw on Preventing Conflict of Interest is amendedFinally, members of the Pensions Trust Board are selectedYouth gets its own law€7,000 allocated for the family of Erion Foniqi, the child who died from stray dogs attacks€39,736 for Freedom Festival

€30,000 for erecting the statue of war martyr Adrian KrasniqiThe list of individuals with the right to a diplomatic passport is extendedThe Regulation on Foreign Service is approvedLaw on Forests is amendedDraft Law on Independent Supervisory Council is added to the 2009 Legislative StrategyThe Government appoints members of the Language Use Committee€35,276 for celebrating the Turkish DayAdministrative Directive for the Circular Seal is approvedGovernment approves the 2009-2011 National Action Plan for People with Disabilities of the Republic of Kosovo€4,150 allocated for the 10th anniversary of the Serbian massacre in the Dubrava PrisonThe Government allocates €4,265 to mark April 27 – the Kosovo Missing Persons DayAfter adoption of Law on Food, Administrative Directive 18/2005 needs changingNational Strategy for Integrated Border Management and Action Plan approvedKEK’s obligations towards the Tax Administration are finally clarifiedThe current objectives of the 2005-2015 Energy Strategy have not been met thus farThe Working Group on Drafting the Basic Document of the Draft Law on Naming Municipalities and Villages is foundedDrafting the National Strategy Against Family Violence and Action Plan has been initiatedImplementation of January DecisionsImplementation of February DecisionsImplementation of March DecisionsSummary

QeveriaOpozita

PCN

April could be considered as a successful month for the Government of the Republic of Kosovo. In three of its meeting during this month,

the Government has made 44 decisions, whereas in a broader sense, after the first four months of 2009, there have been 14 meetings held and 94 decisions made.

This month’s top priority was the issue of appointing the board members of public enterprises, although the Government of Kosovo has taken eight decisions for their appointment previously. In addition, 10 draft laws were approved; eight decisions were taken for allocating financial funds, as well as five decisions were taken to approve strate-gies, action plans or to initiate procedures for their formulation.

During this month the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2010 – 2012 was also approved, which does not foresee any better future for the economic development of the country. More on the main points of MTEF 2010-2012, you will read in the following pages.

For the first time in Kosovo the Draft Law on Civil Servants was approved, which was a demand of many trade unions. Apart from this important Draft Law, the Government of Kosovo has finally approved the Draft Law on Prishtina. The absence of this law, blocked many proj-ects on local governance of the capital city.

In the end, you can read about the implementation of decisions of January, February and March 2009.

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Contents

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Public Enterprise Board Members according to December 2009 decisions

Board Members according to April 2009 decisions

Prishtina International Airport

1. Bekim Jashari – chairman2. Bislim Zogaj3. Sejdi Hoxha4. Hanefi Muharremi5. Besnik Krasniqi6. Abdullah Hoxha

1. Bekim Jashari – chairman2. Bislim Zogaj3. Naser Canolli4. Hanefi Muharremi5. Besnik Krasniqi6. Fejzullah Krasniqi

Watering Company “Drini i Bardhë”

1. Fadil Kabashi – chairman2. Remzi Ismajli3. Beqir Metaj4. Shkodran Gaxherri

1. Ali Sefaj – chairman2. Fadil Kabashi3. Beqir Metaj4. Shkodran Gaxherri


In December 2008, the Govern-ment of Kosovo took 15 decisions

on appointing board members of 15 public enterprises. The selec-tion was contested by the opposi-tion, media and civil society, who claimed that the appointed people were political party members and not professionals. However, de-spite the opposition, the Govern-ment did not take any actions to change its decisions on board members. It was the intervention of the International Civilian Repre-sentative (ICR) that made the gov-ernment to change its decision,

showing one more time that only the pressure from international institutions can make them react,

but not the domestic demands and complains.

On April 23, 2009 the Govern-ment of Kosovo changed 8 out of 15 decisions on boards of public enterprises. These changes were

partial, therefore they did not dif-fer much from the December 2009 decisions.

Below you will see a compari-son between December 2008 de-cisions and April 2009 decisions on the appointment of the board members of public enterprises:

Changes in 8 public enterprises boards were made after ICR’s critiques that political and unprofessional members were appointed in

these positions

3

After ICR critiques, the Government changes boards members of public enterprises


Public Enterprise Board Members according to December 2009 decisions

Board Members according to April 2009 decisions

Kosovo Railway

1. Halim Peci – chairman2. Skender Sallauka3. Selam Jemiri4. Burim Krasniqi5. Fitim Shala6. Halil Kilaj

1. Sejdi Hoxha – chairman2. Halim Peci 3. Hysen Fazliu4. Agron Thaçi5. Fadil Krasniqi6. Halil Kilaj

Hidrosystem “Ibër-Lepenc”

1. Nazmi Zenelaj - chairman2. Xhelosh Vataj3. Murat Meha4. Ilmi Ahmeti5. Veton Vula6. Bajram Mustafa

1. Nami Zenelaj – chairman2. Xhelosh Vataj3. Murat Meha4. Ilmi Ahmeti5. Faton Gjyshinca6. Bajram Mustafa

Watering Company“Radoniqi-Dukagjini”

1. Cenë Delija – chairman2. Avdullah Kryeziu3. Leonard Shehu4. Muharrem Jupa

1. Cenë Deliaj – chairman2. Avdullah Kryeziu 3. Ismet Neziri4. Artan Neziri

Regional Water-suply Company “Hidrodrini”

1. Shkëlzen Hyseni – chairman2. Rexhë Abazi3. Elez Hajdaraj4. Kolë Berisha

1. Shkëlzen Hyseni – chairman2. Rexhë Abazi3. Elez Hajdaraj4. Gjelosh Gojani

Regional Water-suply Company “Hidroregjioni Jugor”

1. Sabit Bytyqi – chairman2. Ilaz Bulaci3. Drita Grazhda4. Sylejman Gashi5. Sahit Ukaj6. Bujar Hasani

1. Naser Bajraktari – chairman2. Duda Balji3. Drita Grazhda4. Galip Hoda5. Sahit Ukaj6. Bujar Hasani

Regional Water-supply Company“Radoniqi”

1. Ruzhdi Këpuska – chairman2. Agim Gjoshi3. Hajdar Grezda4. Ismet Neziraj

1. Ruzhdi Këpuska – chairman2. Agim Gjoshi3. Hajdar Grezda4. Leonard Shehu

As you can see from the above table, where all the changes are high-lighted, there was only one chairman changed and a few other board mem-

bers. As for the boards of other seven

public enterprises – KEK, PTK, KO-STT, Waste Management Company,

three Regional Water – Supply Com-panies ‘Mitrovica’, ‘Hidromorava’ and ‘Prishtina’, they remain untouched since last December.

Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA) was established through a law from

the Kosovo Assembly on May 21,

2008 and was enforced on June 16, 2009. On February 4, 2009, the

Prime Minister and the President ap-

pointed Bashkim Smakaj as the head of KIA. Since his appointment on Feb-ruary 4, until April, no further steps

were taken to strengthen the KIA. On April 29, the Government of Ko-sovo took the decision 05/62, which

approves the budget of KIA for 2009. The total budget was not mentioned In this decision, but after our research we understood that KIA has been allo-cated a budget worth 1,170,900 euro. This sum is expected to be spent in the following order: 500,000 euro will be spent on salaries and wages for 90 employees that are expected to work in this agency; 234,000 euro on goods and services; 16,900 euro on utilities; 20,000 on subsidies and transfers; and 400,000 on capital in-vestments.

*The highlighted names are those who were removed from the public enterprises board, people who could be considered as political appointees and unprofessional

A total of 1,170,900 euro has been allocated, of which 500,000 will be used for salaries and wages. The salary of the head of KIA was not made public and so far no one has been employed except of the Head, who was appointed from the President and the Prime

Minister in February

Government allocates a budget for the Kosovo Intelligence Agency

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The Law on Prishtina has been one of Isa Mustafa’s promises, the cur-

rent mayor of Prishtina Municipality, during his electoral campaign. The Draft Law on Prishtina was drafted in the first part of 2008 and sent to the Government for approval. For more than six months, it was blocked by the Ministry of Economy and Fi-nance, with justification that it carries a big financial cost – around 8 mil-lion euro, and was not approved by

the IMF. During his term as a mayor, Isa Mustafa has been complaining that without the approval of Law on Prishtina it is impossible for him to initiate the reforms in this municipal-ity. If the Law existed, in the begin-ning of 2009 the Statutes of Munici-pality could have been approved, something that is in accordance with the Law on Local Self Governance. Making Prishtina with distinctive stat-ues from other municipalities and the passage of Law on Prishtina is also foreseen in the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

The Draft Law on Prishtina, which was passed in April 2009, was a short draft with only 10 acts. Act 3 states

that Prishtina is the capital city of the Republic of Kosovo. Prishtina City, as a distinctive infrastructural, urban, economic, social and administrative entity, divided into administrative dis-tricts, enjoys special competences in accordance with this law and the leg-islation in power. Prishtina City en-joys a high level of self governance and guarantees an active participa-tion of citizens in local issues. The area of this city is divided into five ad-

ministrative districts. Each adminis-trative district will have its own Board of District and the Executive Director of the District. The Board of District will have 7 members, 4 of whom will be members of Municipal Assembly, while 3 others will be selected from the Prishtina Municipal Assembly, following Mayor’s proposal. The Ex-ecutive Director and civil servants of Administrative District cannot be members of the Prishtina City As-sembly. Prishtina Municipality will establish the Institute for Urban Plan-ning, which will deal exclusively with infrastructural and urban planning, and the environmental protection of the Prishtina City. Prishtina City will

be given an additional grant which will be no less than 4 per cent of the total grant given to each municipal-ity in every fiscal year. The Mayor of Prishtina City, unlike other mayors of Kosovo municipalities, is also the Chairman of Prishtina City Assembly and the Chairman of the Committee for Policies and Finances. The May-or of Prishtina City is not a member of City Assembly and Committee for Politics and Finances, but has the right for an additional vote, in case there is a tie in votes ‘for’ or ‘against’ a particular proposal. Prishtina City will have two vice-mayors, appointed according to act 60.2 of Law on Local Self Governance.

Another innovation included in this Draft Law is the creation of Prishtina Metropolitan Zone, which will be composed of parts of the fol-lowing municipalities: Poduje-va, Lipjan, Obiliq, Fushë Ko-sovë and Prishtina City. Six months after this law had been passed, these munici-palities are expected to sign a consortium agreement for the creation of this zone. Metropolitan Zone of Prishtina will have its own organs, accord-ing to the consortium agreement. The budget of Prishtina Metropolitan Zone, based on the agreement with other municipalities, will be made of resources from their budgets, includ-ing the Budget of Prishtina City.

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The Government unblocks the Draft Law on Prishtina

The Draft Law on Prishtina legalizes the decentralization of services and local authority into five Prishtina administrative districts. Also, this Draft Law sees the creation of a Metropolitan Zone of Prishtina


On April 30, 2009 the Govern-ment of Kosovo approved

the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2010 – 2012 (MTEF), which was sent to the Assembly of Kosovo for approval.

In this framework, four main objectives were introduced, fore-seen to be met during the next three years: 1. Economic growth,

2. Implementation of resolving the status, 3. Good governance, 4. Reduction of poverty and economic stability. In order to achieve these main objectives it is was necessary to also set sub-objectives and concrete steps.

As for the economic develop-ment, the Government admits that a growth of 3-4 per cent an-nually is not a satisfactory growth and we need many other years to reduce unemployment, or at least diminish it. The current un-employment rate in Kosovo is 35-

40 per cent, while 29,000 young people enter the labor market every year. The World Bank con-siders that around 40 per cent of the Kosovo’s population are con-sidered to be poor, in the gen-eral meaning of the term. Again, according to MTEF, the current education system is unable to provide the young generation

with competitive skills for a mod-ern market economy. Kosovo has a trade deficit of 40 per cent, while 65 per cent of all budget in-come comes from the customs. It is predicted that the import of goods and services will continue with the same increasing rate like last year. By the end of 2012, the trade deficit is predicted to reach up to 41.6 per cent of GDP, 2 bil-lion euro respectively. During the next years, Kosovo will be in a bad fiscal situation, which trig-gers the need for applying new

policies, needing to find addition-al financial resources, require additional budgetary help from the donors, or just reduce expen-ditures. In 2008, inflation in Ko-sovo increased to 9.4 per cent, but a similar thing may happen again in the near future, because Kosovo is an open economy and every price fluctuation in the re-gion will have an impact in the change of prices in Kosovo.

Regular electricity supply is one of the main goals of the Gov-ernment. This is planned to be achieved through the privatiza-tion of existing assets of supply and KEK distribution. However, the subsidies for KEK will not be terminated till 2011.

As for reducing poverty, the Government of Kosovo is work-ing on drafting the “White Let-ter” on social policies, which ad-dresses a wide range of policy options that could be taken into consideration. It is estimated that in the next three years, expenses will increase more than incomes, leaving us in a continuous defi-cit.


MTEF 2010-2012 is approved, does not foresee an improved economic situation for the next 3 years

In the next three years, it is estimated that we will have a budget deficit, annual growth of only 3.0-4.0 per cent, not even a 5 per cent increase of civil servant salaries, etc.

Budget 2010 2011 2012Income 1,029 mil. € 1,081 mil. € 1,133 mil. €Expenses 1,111 mil. € 1,109 mil. € 1,133 mil. €

During each of the next three years, the average annual capital expenses will be 440 million euro. This will create a finan-cial gap of a cumulative total of minus 300.5 mil-

lion euro till 2012. Ac-cording to MTEF, this gap

will occur because the IMF has requested that the fiscal reserves should increase and make 9 per cent of the Gross

Domestic Product (GDP). As a consequence, Kosovo will in-crease the Stabilization Reserve from 50 million as it is now to 200 million in the following years. Nevertheless, this reserve will be less than the one required by the IMF, which is supposed to be 375 million euro by 2010.

Moreover, Kosovo’s member-ship in IMF and the World Bank will require further financial obli-gations. Within six months, from

the day of signing the member-ship, Kosovo will have to pay 154 million euro. Another bur-den for the Budget of Kosovo, in the near future will also be the increase of salaries of civil servants by 10 per cent, which will burden the Budget of Kos-ovo for 14.8 million euro during 2009. Another increase of sala-ries by 5 per cent, as it has been announced, would burden even more the Budget of Kosovo. The

6

The National Strategy for Mi-gration and Action Plan will

be drafted by a group of experts, which will be coordinated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. How-ever, this working group has not been formed yet. MIA officials claim that this strategy docu-ment will be finalized sometime during July – September 2009

period, as it is foreseen with the European Partnership Action Plan.

The National Strategy for Mi-gration will focus primarily on preventing illegal migration, as well as establishing ways for le-gal migration.

In the upcoming editions of GAP Monitor we will follow up

with additional informa-tion on this issue: wheth-er the working group has been formed for drafting the strategy; who are its members? How and when will this strategy document be presented to the Govern-ment for final approval?


7

The Government requests drafting of the National Migration Strategy and Action Plan

“White Letter” will burden the Budget of Kosovo for another 50 million, since it also includes the indexation of pension and social assistance according to the inflation value (20 million euro per year) and the increase of health budget for 30 million euro per year. Passing the Law on Police will cost the Budget of Kosovo another 10 million euro. Also, the creation of 5+1 new municipalities, which is part of

Ahtisari Package, will burden the 2010 Budget with additional 13,783,199 euro.

To cover this budget deficit, the Government of Kosovo is looking forward to foreign dona-tions and loans that Kosovo can take after membership in IMF and the World Bank. Also, the Government is planning to de-clare the dividend of PTK, which is worth 150 million euro. But, if such thing will happen, it may

bring problems in liquidity for local banks, since most of the PTK dividend is saved in Ko-sovo banks. Another option re-mains the privatization of PTK, which could bring to the Bud-get of Kosovo incomes of up to 500 million euro. Furthermore, the eventual privatization of the supply and distribution sector of KEK, could add to the Budget another 30-50 million euro.

Table presentation of the budget for each agency for the next 3 years:

Institution 2010 2011 2012 TotalMTPT 112,882,804 € 114,717,374 € 117,060,308 € 344,660,486 €MEM 2,278,226 € 2,149,457 € 2,080,568 € 6,608,251 €Public Enterprise Sector 86,550,000 € 17,900,000 € 14,300,000 € 118,750,000 €

MAFRD 14,777,191 € 18,829,741 € 19,309,741 € 52,916,673 €MTI 9,259,575 € 9,986,847 € 11,379,545 € 30,625,967 €MEST and UP 56,923,929 € 61,081,806 € 63,650,743 € 181,656,478 €MCYR 11,422,789 € 14,850,481 € 14,426,457 € 40,699,727 €MJ 20,387,428 € 20,828,114 € 21,271,717 € 62,487,260 €Justice Department 873,845 € 908,441 € 953,527 € 2,735,814 €

Judicial Council 13,702,976 € 13,752,088 € 14,463,917 € 41,918,981 €MIA 70,921,104 € 73,857,881 € 75,349,828 € 220,128,814 €MKSF 31,397,267 € 32,403,048 € 34,673,478 € 98,473,793 €MLSW 164,679,700 € 169,242,443 € 172,221,379 € 506,143,522 €MH 70,854,197 € 73,460,486 € 74,767,268 € 219,081,951 €MPA 35,751,733 € 32,251,733 € 32,251,733 € 100,255,199 €MFA 24,932,252 € 29,078,359 € 23,969,918 € 77,980,529 €MEF 87,487,082 € 89,565,467 € 90,435,416 € 267,487,965 €Customs Service 9,865,837 € 10,064,983 € 10,186,007 € 30,116,827 €MLGA 8,575,355 € 8,562,381 € 8,348,940 € 25,486,676 €

In its 62nd meeting, the Govern-ment of Kosovo approved the

Draft Law on Civil Services of the Republic of Kosovo. This approval has been one of the most repeat-ed demands of the trade unions. Civil Service in Kosovo, so far, has been regulated by UNMIK ju-dicial acts, like UNMIK Regulation 2001/36. By passing the new Law on Civil Service the UNMIK acts will be abrogated, together with a few other sub-legal acts of the Ministry of Public Service.

UNMIK Regulation 2001/36 on Civil Service in Kosovo in-cludes any employed person who receives his salary from the Consolidated Budget of Kosovo

in the category of Civil Servants. But there were a few excep-tions, however, like the mem-bers of the Council, appointed members and the members of TMK. From now on, the Draft Law on Civil Service of the Re-public of Kosovo includes only the civil workers of the admin-istration of the Assembly, Presi-dency, Prime Minister’s Office, all Ministries, Executive Agen-cies, Independent Agencies, and Regulative Agencies, as well as municipal administra-tions. Part of Civil Service is also considered the diplomatic and consular personnel, as well as the administrative person-nel sent abroad or employed in MFA; civil personnel employed in the Kosovo Police, in FSK, in

Customs, in Correction Service of Kosovo; and personnel employed in the judicial system.

Categories of people that are being paid from the Budget of Ko-sovo but are not considered Civil Servants are: employees in the education sector, in cultural insti-tutions, in health sector, police of-ficials, custom officials, correction officials and members of KSF.

The status of the categories that are not included in the Draft Law on Civil Servants will be regulated by the Labor Law. Civil Servants are not considered those who hold public positions, political appointed people, or those employed in the cabinets of public officials. Once

the law on Civil Service is passed, 14,746 workers will have the status of civil servants, compared to cur-rent 74,654 employees who have this status.

The exclusion from the category of civil servants of the employees of education and health sector, police etc., was also a demand of trade unions of those particular groups, who have requested that their working status be different from the one of civil servants.

The new Draft Law is much more voluminous and has more content than the UNMIK regulation 2001/36. The Draft Law is divided into 10 chapters and has 107 acts. It brings new innovations in regu-lating this sector.

In the Civil Service of the Re-public of Kosovo two categories of


The Draft Law on Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo is approved

Once the Law on Civil Service is passed, the number of workers, who will be classified as civil servants will be 14,746. At the moment, 74,645 workers are considered civil servants, since the legislation in force classifies all of those who receive their salaries from the Budget of Kosovo as civil servants.

8

positions will exist: 1. Positions of career civil servants, who will be in permanent functions; 2. Positions of non-career civil servants, who will work on temporary positions, limited to two years for the imple-mentation of specific projects, or will replace temporary the perma-nent civil servants in case of work overload.

As for the hierarchy of Civil Ser-vice, the employees will be divid-ed into four categories: 1. Senior managing level civil employees, 2. Managing level civil employees, 3. Executive and professional level civil employees, and 4. adminis-trative level civil employees.

The admission to Civil Service of Kosovo will be through job an-nouncements. There will be a writ-ing test, making 50 per cent of the evaluation; oral test, making 30 per cent of evaluation; and an evaluation of work experience and qualification, making the remain-ing 20 per cent. The entrance to Civil Service will be in the lowest categories, which means that for the senior positions only the em-ployees who are already in lower positions within the Civil Service. The usual working hours for the civil servants should not exceed 40 hours per week. Pregnant women, mothers with up to three years old kids, and disabled civil servants are not required to work in night shifts or exceed more than 40 hours per week. In specific events, or due to an increase of tasks, the civil servant may be required to work over time. This should not exceed 4 hours per day, 20 hours per week, or 40 hours per month. It is worth mentioning that, so far, the overtime work was not defined properly. In the last issue of GAP

Monitor, we have reported the case of 406 employees of MIA who have been working overtime from July 1, 2008 till 28 February, 2009, working 11 hours per day, includ-ing 8 hours of work on Saturday. This plan of MIA for overtime work is expected to restart on July 1, 2009 and continue till December 31, 2009. If the law on Civil Ser-vice is passed, then 406 employ-ees of MIA will not be allowed to work overtime for 23 hours per week, 93 hours per month respec-tively, because it would be against the law. Because of the absence of law to regulate this issue, MIA employees have been working for

at least 93 work hours over time.Every year, civil servants have

the right for annual holiday of mini-mum 18 working days. The limit of annual holiday will be determined based on the work experience. For every year of work experience, the annual holiday will be extended for a day. The retirement age is 65. The civil servants, or the admin-istration, may bring a decision for

early retirement. The early retire-ment could happen only after the age of 63, so at most two years before regular retirement.

One of the most contested is-sues in the Draft Law is the ap-pointments in senior positions in the Civil Service – the selection of Permanent Secretaries of Min-istries. So far, these appointments were made by the Senior Public Appointments Committee (SPAC), whose work was regulated by

UNMIK Regulation 2001/19, UN-MIK Regulation 2001/36 for Civil Service and Administrative Guide 2003/02. SPAC stopped function-ing for a considerable time now. In the first and second issue of the GAP Monitor, we have written more on the problems faced by this institution.

The Draft Law on Civil Service does not mention at all the job description of SPAC, therefore, eventually it dissolves the institu-tion, because if this law is passed, it means that the acts that have been regulating SPAC will be ab-rogated.

According to the new Draft Law, Secretaries of Ministries, who so far have been referred to as Per-manent Secretaries, from now on will be called General Secretaries. General Secretaries will not be per-manent, but will be appointed for a 3-year term. General Secretaries will be selected from a list of civil servants, who hold high-ranking positions. The ministry in charge of public administration will create a committee for setting the criteria. The Committee will be composed of seven members: three Gen-eral Secretaries, one university professor from that specific field, and one member from the civil so-ciety. The head of the institution, who announces the vacancy i.e. the Minister, will appoint two mem-

bers of the Committee. The Committee will go through the competition procedure and will propose to the Ministry in charge three top candidates for public administration. Then the Ministry will send the list to the institution, where the General Secretary will be working at and at the same time it will make a recommenda-tion for selecting one of the three


9

This Law, once passed, will dissolve the Senior Public Appointments Committee (SPAC)

and replace it with a new, a more politicized commission than SPAC, which will appoint

the Permanent Secretaries of Ministries.

In the explanation memorandum of this Draft Law it is said that ‘this Law will not interfere

with the competences given to SRGS’

The Government has approved the Draft Law on Civil Servant’s Sal-

aries. So far, this sector had been regulated by sub-legal acts, such as the Manual for Salary System and Promotion (approved by the Gov-ernment of Kosovo, Decision 04/98 of May 28, 2004), and Administrative Guide of Ministry of Public Services 2004/11 for Setting the Grades in the Civil Service.

According to the Draft Law on Civil Servants’ Salaries, their salary is composed of the basic salary and

additions. The basic salary shows the value of that particular work po-sition in comparison with the overall

working positions determined by the Government in its overall classifica-tion. In order to determine the ba-

sic salary, positions within the Civil Service are categorized into four functioning categories and are clas-

sified in one of the fourteen salary grades.


candidates to the Government. This sort of procedure of selecting the General Secretaries of Min-istries crates a space for political figures to be selected for the high-est postision within the Civil Ser-vice for every institution of public administration.

Also, according to the Draft Law, the Prime Minister has the right to require the evaluation of performances of those appointed in senior positions, which means they will be in direct control of the

Prime Minister. During the entire Draft Law the

term used is ‘The respective minis-try for public administration’, which means that this is the Ministry of Public Administration (the former Ministry of Public Services).

This Draft Law will be associ-ated by many sub-legal acts which will be approved within one year period, from the day the Law is enforced. This Law will not burden the Budget of Kosovo, because a similar job is being done by the

Ministry of Public Services. In the explanatory memorandum that the Government has attached to the Draft Law, it is stated that the Draft Law on Civil Services of the Re-public of Kosovo will not be in con-flict with competences guaranteed by the SRSG. This declaration is given in a time when the Govern-ment declares that SRSG has no more competences in Kosovo and the mission of UNMIK should be over.

From now on, civil servants’ salaries will be regulated by law

Currently there are different regulatory acts that regulate the salaries of KEK, PTK, health, education,

etc. The Draft Law on Civil Servants’ Aalaries will regulate salaries only of those who work in the

public administration

10


The last two columns re-main undetermined, because the Government of Kosovo will have to approve sub-le-gal acts to fix the coefficients based on which the salary will be determined. Salary grade classification will be based on the responsibility, complexity, decision making responsibility, interpersonal abilities, neces-sary qualification and experi-ence. This issue will be deter-mined in more details after the government passes a sub-legal act.

Civil servants, whose work is evaluated positively, at the end of the year may be pro-moted. The way of promo-tion will be explained in the Draft Law. Also, civil servants will be compensated for their overtime work, their work on extraordinary circumstances (dangerous for their health),

receive bonuses according to the market conditions. This bo-nus means, additional salary for those workers, whose job is better paid in the private sector than in the public one. This is done for the purpose of keep-ing them in.

As it was mentioned earlier, this issue has been so far reg-ulated by the Ministry of Public Services Administrative Guide 2004/11 for the determination of promotion level for Civil Ser-vice. According to this guide, there are 12 salary coefficients for civil servants. The estima-tion of salaries based on coef-ficients is done by multiplying the sum of basic salary with the salary coefficient. After the rise of salaries by 10 per cent in January, the basic salary is 35 euro (35.805 euro to be more precise). If an employ-ee has the salary coefficient

4, which at the moment is the lowest salary coefficient, then the estimation of the salary is done by multiplying the basic salary with 4, thus 34.805 x 4 = 143.22 euro, which is the lowest salary in the Civil Ser-vice. The method of salary estimation in the MPS has been kept and continues to be kept secret.

Just like in the Draft Law on Civil Service, in the explanatory memo-randum of the Draft Law on Civil Servants’ Salaries, it is stated that ‘the Draft Law does not in-terfere with the SRSG compe-tencies’. The Ministry of Pub-lic Administration, which has drafted these two draft laws, should remove these state-ments, as the SRGS has no longer got any legislative com-petencies.

11

Functioning categories of civil servants:

Positions under the functioning categories

Salary grade Coefficient Salary

1. Senior managing level civil servant

- Senior Director 3- Senior Director 2- Senior Director 1

- Salary Grade 1- Salary Grade 2- Salary Grade 3

- ?- ?- ?

- ? €- ? €- ? €

2. Managing level civil servant

- Director 4- Director 3- Director 2- Director 1

- Salary Grade 4- Salary Grade 5- Salary Grade 6- Salary Grade 7

- ?- ?- ?- ?

- ? €- ? €- ? €- ? €

3. Executive & professional level civil servant

- Executive & Professional 3- Executive & Professional 2- Executive & Professional 1

- Salary Grade 8

- Salary Grade 9

- Salary Grade 10

- ?

- ?

- ?

- ? €

- ? €

- ? €

4. Administrative level civil servant

- Administrative 4- Administrative 3- Administrative 2- Administrative 1

- Administrative 4- Administrative 3- Administrative 2- Administrative 1

- ?- ?- ?- ?

- ? €- ? €- ? €- ? €

Narrative explanations in the Draft Law are presented in the following table:


Approximately six years since the Law on Social Assistance

Scheme was put into force, the Gov-ernment of Kosovo has decided to amend and supplement it. The Draft Law on Amending and Supplement-ing the Law on Social Assistance Scheme is expected to harden the criteria for families who are not ben-eficiaries of social assis-tance, which may eventu-ally result in decreasing the numbers of families who benefit from the scheme. On the other hand, there will be an increase of the number of benefiting families and there will be an increase of financial benefits for those categories who will have the right to benefit from social

assistance. As a result of these changes in law, around 10,000

families will be removed from the social assistance scheme, saving 6.5 million euro. Families that will be excluded from the social assistance scheme are those who have two or more

family members able to work (2,370 families, who currently

receive 60 euro), people who receive a basic pension and pen-

sion for disability (4,655 families, who receive 40 euro), families who

are estimated to have a functioning vehicle (3,300 families, receiving 60 euro), and families who have a dis-abled child aged 1-18 (300 families, who receive 60 euro).

Apart from the exclusion of these 10,000 families and saving of 6.5 million euro, the new social assis-tance scheme aims at bringing new

benefits for 9,265 families, with an assistance of 60 euro per month, and 50,695 individuals, with 5 ad-ditional euro per month. For these new benefits 9.8 million additional euro are needed. Two thousand five hundred and twenty six families are estimated to be included in the so-cial assistance scheme due to land expansion and land classification (families that will benefit 60 euro per month); 1,680 families will be includ-ed in social assistance scheme, as a result of decrease in ability level s from 80 per cent to 60 per cent (who

will also receive 60 euro per month); and 5,055 new families – who could not benefit due to criteria of current law – will be included in the social assistance scheme. These families are: isolated families due to ven-geance fear, families who are under the care of women and who live in remote rural areas near the border,

families who have family members that are addicted to drugs, or trafficked mem-bers, marginalized families who are not integrated in public education, employ-ment or other public ser-vices. As for the criteria of benefits for these families, MLSW will come up with a new sub-legal act.

Apart from changes on the criteria for benefiting from social assistance, the Draft Law also aims to shift the managing competences of social assistance scheme from the central to the local level. From now on, Centers for Social Work, who are in charge of offering social services, will be administered from municipalities, while MLSW will play a managing and supervising role. According to the current law, Cen-ters for Social Work are adminis-tered and managed entirely from MLSW.

Another change is also the ex-

Government changes the Law on Social Assistance Scheme

Due to ambiguity, difficulties and mistakes in the current Law on Social Assistance Scheme, the

Government has approved the Draft Law for Amending and

Completing the Law on Social Assistance Schemes

12

This February, the Government of Kosovo has formed the Govern-

ment Group for Harmonization and Finalization of Draft Law on Govern-ment. On the establishment of this group and the content of this Draft Law we have written in the second issue of GAP Monitor. The Govern-ment Group was required to harmo-nize the executive’s stands towards this Law and to finalize the text of Draft Law. But, this Group has made some changes in the Draft Law on Government. One of the biggest changes is the limitations for having

only two Ministers without portfo-lio, different from the previous Draft Law – where the Ministers without portfolio were not limited in number. Again, the number of political advi-sors is increased. While in the previ-ous draft it was stated that the Prime

Minister has the right to have up to 5 political advisors, after the changes made to this Draft Law, the Prime Minister has the right to employ up to 10 political advisors.

In the previous draft it was stated that Deputy Prime Ministers have the right to appoint up to 3 political advisors, in the new draft they may appoint up to 5. Ministers now have the right to employ up to 5 political advisors, while according to the pre-vious draft they were allowed to hire 2 to 4 political advisors. Also, ac-cording to the previous Draft Law, it

was specifically stated that Deputy Ministers will be appointed only in those ministries which cover a wide area of activities, and not in all minis-tries, while the final draft which was sent to the Assembly, after changes made by the Governing Group, has

removed entirely this part for limita-tion of deputy ministers positions.

As we can see from the exam-ples above, the Government Group for Harmonization and Finalization of the Draft Law on Govern-ment has made fundamental changes. These changes made in the Draft Law do not touch on the struc-ture of the Government, as the previous Draft Law required. The Government Group has made sure to limit the number of Ministers without portfolio, and as a con-sequence the number of current ministries will be untouched, despite the fact that the Government of Ko-sovo has the biggest number of min-istries compared to small countries in EU.

Also, with these changes made, the Government Group has made sure to keep the positions of cur-rent political advisors and those of the deputy ministers. Until the next elections (most probably in 2011), the structure of Government will not change.


13

The Draft Law on Government undergoes fundamental changes

tension of the period of benefiting from social assistance from 6 to 12 months. This change will avoid further administrative procedures, while the applicants and the MLSW itself will be saved from expenses.

If we analyse the explanatory memorandum of MLSW for this Draft Law, we will realize that the current Law has lots of ambiguities and its implementers will face prac-tical problems. But, according to the financial declaration of MEF, this Draft Law is unbearable for the Bud-get of Kosovo and therefore should

not be passed.According to the Medium Term

Expenditure Framework 2009-2012, every year 27.3 million euro are al-located from the Budget of Kosovo for the social assistance schemes

and their administration. But, if the new law is enforced, the budgetary cost will increase for 3.3 million euro annually and the new Law on Social Assistance Scheme will cost the Budget of Kosovo 30.6 million euro per year. This additional money is not included in the MTEF. Accord-ing to MEF the increase of social

assistance scheme is in conflict with recommendations from international financial institutions.

On one hand we have the request of MLSW for amending the Law on Social Assistance Scheme, and on the other we have the declaration of MEF against the approval of this Draft Law due to its unbearable fi-nancial cost. Despite the disagree-ment between these two ministries, the Government has passed the Draft Law and sent it to the Assem-bly for approval.

What will happen if the Assembly approves the Draft Law as is and the Law is passed but the govern-ment cannot implement it because of lack of money?

In other words, the Government has asked the approval of a Law, which it is unable to implement. Let’s see what the Assembly will do with this Draft Law, whether they will approve it or not.

The enforcement of this law will burden the Kosovo Budget for additional 3.3 million euro, or a combined total of 30.6 million euro a year. According to MEF, this additional cost is unbearable for the Budget of Kosovo, therefore the new Law will be inapplicable.

The Government Group, whose duty was to harmonize and finalize the drafting of the Draft Law, made some changes in order to make sure that the positions of current political advisors and those of deputy ministers are saved

On Government’s decision number 16/61, the Draft

Law on Declaration, Origin and Control of Wealth was approved. The Draft Law was sent to the Assembly for assessment and approval.

So far the declaration of wealth of public officials

was regulated by the Law Against Corruption. The

public higher officials have been obliged to declare their wealth at the Kosovo agency Against Corruption. If they failed to do so, according to the Law Against

Corruption, AKK would require from that particular institution to take actions against those officials, which may result in

withholding their salary or firing them.

According to statistics from KAAC, 747 public officials are obliged to declare their wealth every year. According to this

report, until April 2, 2007 only 67.07 per cent of higher public officials have declared their wealth. According to the 2007

Annual Report of AKK, from 732 public officials only 14 of them have not declared their wealth. The same number of officials is also in 2008. 14 public officials who have not declared their

In its meeting on April 23, 2009 the Government of Ko-

sovo has approved the request of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare to organize the Kosovo 2009 Job Market in co-operation with the Kosovo Alli-ance of Businesses (KAB).

For this reason, the Govern-

ment of Kosovo has allocated 36,830 euro, while the market took place on May 4 and 5, 2009. According to the KAB reports, during these two days of the market, 578 applications have been received, which has resulted in 75 people signing a working agreement. The mar-

ket will last during the whole 2009 year. KAB is still receiv-ing job applications, while in July, it will make public the to-tal number of applications re-ceived and it will try to employ more people by the end of the year.


€36,830 allocated for organizing the 2009 Job Market

The Draft Law on Declaration, Origin and Control of Wealth is approved

So far, the declaration of wealth has been done at the Kosovo Agency Against Corruption (KAAC), based on the Law against Corruption, whereas in the future this will be regulated with a specific law

14

After the approval of the Draft Law on Government, the Government

of Kosovo took the governmental decision no. 27/61, which establishes the Working Group for Drafting the Regulation on the Organization and Structuring of the Government. This Regulation is foreseen to be drafted based on the Article 32.2 of the Draft Law on Government. The members of the Working Group for drafting this regulation have already been appointed: a representative from the

Prime Ministers’ Office, the Ministry of Public Services, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Local Governance Administration, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, representatives of the Assembly of Kosovo and the Presidency.

The Working Group will be coordinated from the Office of the Prime Minister. There is an option to establish additional sub-working groups if needed. According to

the governmental decision 27/61, the Regulation on the Organization and Structuring of the Government should be drafted within three months. It remains yet to be seen if the officials will respect this legal timeframe which expires on July 24, 2009, when we will report again on the content of this regulation and if the legal timeframe has been met.

wealth are minority members and are members of the parliament, members of Courts and Attorneys. Although AKK has required from the institutions where they work to take actions against them, so far no action has been taken. On the other hand, even the officials who have declared their wealth, they did not do that in the proper way. 37.4 per cent of forms have been filled in an improper way, in 28.9 per cent of cases the annual incomes were not declared, 7.3 per cent of officials have not provided enough information on their real estate, while in 6.9 per cent of cases there is lack of declaration on cash, family information etc.

This information are indications that so far the public official never took seriously the declaration of wealth, neither did the public institutions seriously asked to take legal actions against them. We hope that these problems will be solved through the Law on Declaration, Origin and Control of wealth. This law regulates the public control of the higher public officials’ wealth, their income and other benefits, their financial obligations, their family members’ and those related to them, and it sets the necessary sanctions.

The declaration of public officials’

wealth have to do with the real estate, other movables worth 3.000 euro and more, their shares in commercial societies, cash, debts, annual income etc.

This law sees four types of declaration of wealth: the regular annual declaration, declaration upon accepting a higher official position, declaration upon the request of the Agency, and declaration after leaving the position.

All declaration of wealth of public officials will be collected into one catalogue. Every citizen has

the right to access this catalogue, according to the Law on Access to official Documents. This was not possible so far, since citizens, media and the civil society were not allowed to access the catalogues on declaration of wealth of higher public officials. According to the Draft Law, the Agency is required to keep this catalogues for at least 10 years since the day when the public official leaves the office.

As for those who do not declare their wealth this Draft Law sees

fines. The public official who fails to make an annual declaration of wealth is fined 300-1000 euro. The public official who fails to declare his wealth upon accepting a new position is fined 150-500. The public official who fails to declare his wealth after he’s been requested by the AKK, then he’s fined 500-1500 euro. The public official who fails to declare his wealth upon leaving the office is fined 150-500 euro. Also, the official who fills the AKK form in a wrong way and does not correct his mistakes within 15 days, he is fined

150-500 euro. If, the public official does not provide the necessary information even after this sanction, then the procedure for firing him will begin.

The enforcement of Law on Declaration, Origin and Control of Wealth will not have

any impact on the Budget of Kosovo, because AKK, as an implementer of this law, has an annual budget which can cover the cost required by this law. However, AKK has continuously declared that the staff of 35 people is not sufficient, if you consider the quantity of tasks and the responsibilities this Agency has. Adopting this law may create new income for the Budget of Kosovo in case the public officials fail to declare their wealth, since there will be fines against them.


15

From the so far practices, the declaration of wealth has not been done properly and within deadlines. There were cases when

public officials did not declare their wealth at all to the AKK. We will see how much the

new law will improve the situation

The Working Group for Drafting the Regulation on the Organization and Structuring of the Government, is founded

After the alarm given by the World Health Organization and after

preventing measurements taken by other countries, Kosovo too has

taken some measurements to defend itself from the new ‘swine flu’ pandemic.

Therefore, the Govern-ment of Kosovo has allocat-ed 120,000 euro for buying emergently the medicament

‘Tamiflue’. This money, ac-cording to the Health Minis-

try, was spent in buying 10,000 ‘Tamiflu’ doses, with another

10,000 to be bought later. Before buying these 20,000 doses, in the Ministry of health storeroom, there

were stored another 2,500 doses, which were bought during the time

of “Bird Flu”. Foreign organizations also have donated funds for buying ‘Tamiflu’. According to the Ministry of

Health, Kosovo will have altogether 25,000 ‘Tamiflu’ doses.


Actions taken against “Swine Flu”

120,000 euro were allocated for buying 20,000 ‘Tamiflu’ dozes, but in case this flu touches

Kosovo, ‘Tamiflu’ as the only measurement will not bring any results. WHO, in cooperation with

the best pharmaceutical companies, is trying to find the healing vaccine against this disease

In its 61st meeting, on April 23, 2009, the Government of Kosovo

has again approved the Strategy Against Corruption 2009-2011. For the first time, this strategy was ap-proved in Decem-ber 24, 2008, when it was sent to the Kosovo Assembly for approval. Be-fore the strategy was enlisted in the Assembly’s agenda, civil society organizations like KDI, FOL’08, INPO and ÇOHU protested against

this strategy, arguing that during its drafting the suggestions of civil society were not taken into consid-eration and that the document as

such does not offer a good basis for fighting corruption, since it lacks good plans and objectives.

In the February 26, 2009 ses-sion, the Kosovo Assembly did not approve the Strategy, claiming that it was too general, without any con-

crete Action Plan and without deadlines. Now, the new Strat-egy Against Corrup-tion 2009-2001 has been sent to the Ko-sovo Assembly for approval. The draft for this strategy was

prepared by the Kosovo Anti-Cor-ruption Agency (ACA) and was sent to the Government for review and

The 2009-2011 Strategy Against Corruption is approved again

This February, Members of the Kosovo Assembly refused to approve the Strategy

Against Corruption 2009-2011, with the justification that it was not complete and it

did not have the Action Plan attached

16

The Anti-Corruption Law is amended


On April 22, 2004, the Kosovo Assembly has approved the

Law Against Corruption for the first time. Based on this Law, the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) was established, as the primary institu-tion in the fight against corruption.

Now, five years later, the need for approving a new Law Against Cor-

ruption is evident. During the 61st governmental meeting, the Govern-ment of Kosovo, based on the Gov-ernmental Decision 25/61, has ap-proved the new Draft Law Against Corruption.

This Governmental Decision also obliges the Prime Ministers Secre-tariat, to send the approved Draft Law to the Assembly for further re-view and approval. However, noth-ing has been done in that direction so far. Up to May 15, 2009, the Draft Law has not been sent to the As-sembly for review, as it is foreseen according to the Governmental De-cision. According to Government of-ficials and the Kosovo Anti-Corrup-tion Agency, the Draft Law has not been submitted to the Assembly as

they’re still working on it. This is not the first case when the Government approves a Draft Law, with the aim of submitting it to the Assembly, but continues to make changes to it.

According to a document se-cured by GAP Institute, the new Draft Law does not aim to modify or fulfill the Law currently in power, but

rather replace it entirely. The new Draft Law has a completely differ-ent structure than the Law currently in power. While the current law has 53 articles, the Draft Law that will be replacing it is shorter and has only 28 articles.

The changes foreseen in the Draft Law deal with a variety of is-sues regarding the operations of ACA. While the current law says that ACA is funded from the Kosovo Consolidated Budget (KCB) based on a funding request from the ACA, it does not specify who has to ap-prove its budget.

The new Draft Law specifies that the ACA budget has to be ap-proved by the Kosovo Assembly, as the founding body of ACA. The

current Law says that ACA pre-pares the strategy for the gov-ernment, which then has to be approved by the Assem-bly. Whereas, in the new Draft Law, it is specified that ACA will prepare the strategy in cooperation with Agency’s Council, the Government and other non-governmental institutions, which then has to be approved in the Assembly.

According to the actual Law, the ACA presents the annual report, ap-proved by the Council, which has to be subsequently approved by the Kosovo Assembly. Whereas, the new Draft Law, says that ACA will report to the Assembly annually and to the Agency’s Council semi-annu-ally. The Council may request from ACA more frequent reporting.

The current Law says that the Di-rector of ACA, amongst other things, must be over 35 years old, whereas the new Draft Law does not specify an age limit for the position. On the other hand, according to the current Law, the Director is chosen by the Assembly, but it does not specify how many votes are needed; where-as the new Draft Law specifies that the Assembly selects the new Direc-tor through a simple majority vote.

The new Draft Law highlights that the salary of the ACA Director will be equal to the regular salary of a Chairman of a Kosovo Assembly Parliamentary Committee, which means that the ACA Director will receive a salary ranging from 1300-1400 euros per month.

17

The Draft Law that was initially approved on April 23, has yet to be sent to the Kosovo Assembly for review. The new Draft Law will replace the current one, by making significant changes in terms of structure and content. This year, there’s an ongoing initiative for drafting new laws to replace the ones currently in power – the ones that deal with corruption in Kosovo, respectively

approval.According to Law Against Corrup-

tion, ACA is an independent agency and it reports to the Assembly for its work. But, the same Law also says that the ACA Strategy should be sent to the Government before it is sent to the Assembly, and the Government has the right to make changes before it is sent to the As-sembly. This fact makes the ACA dependant on the Government, something that should not happen

with an independent agency.However, despite the fact that the

Government of Kosovo in its Deci-sion 24/61 for the approval of the Strategy Against Corruption 2009-2011 has asked from the Secretary that the Strategy be sent to the As-sembly, this has not happened so far. The Strategy was not sent to the Assembly, with the justification that it is still being worked on; therefore, even its current draft has not been made public. At the same time, the

Action Plan for this Strategy is also being drafted. It will be sent to the Government for approval together with the Strategy. The last time the Strategy Against Corruption 2009-2011 was debated in the Assembly, one of the requests of the MPs was that the Action Plan should be send to the Assembly for review and ap-proval. Now, as we enter into the second part of 2009, the Strategy remains not passed yet.

Through the Decision 23/16, the Government of Kosovo showed its

support to the Kosovo Assembly for appointing the board members of the Kosovo Pensions Trust, which has

been without a board since Sep-tember 2008. In April, members

of the Pensions Trust Board, to serve a three-year term, were selected as follows: Besim Beqaj, Ymer Havolli, Ruzhdi Osmani, Angela Berns, Steve Bates and Harvey Richard Kember.

Kosovo Pension Savings have started to show positive

trends after the declines of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. In 2008,

the net returns were

negative – 29 per cent. The share value during this year declined to 0.86 euro, while in 2007 it was 1.22 euro. In 2008, the actual losses were at around 240,000 euro as a conse-quence of share sales from some shareholders. The decline of share value has continued also during the first two months in 2009, but in March and April, as a result of stabilizations in global financial markets, there has been an improvement in the Trust’s position and the returns value in this period was 22 million euro. So, the losses of the first two months of 2009 were compensated.

Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) has only intervened in September

2008, by stopping further (60 million euro) investment in global financial markets. Hashim Rexhepi, the Gov-ernor of CBK, declared that the cur-rent Law for pension savings and the lack of the board had made any other intervention impossible.

According to the 2007 report, the Trust was worth 279 million euro, as a result of investments of 266,000 contributors. From the total of 279 million euro funds, 272 million were invested in global markets – 55 per cent in shares and 45 per cent in as-sets, in different states. According to the law on pension savings, CBK can intervene if there at least 10 per cent of savings are at risk.

Finally, members of the Pensions Trust Board are selected

Law on Preventing Conflict of Interest in Exercising a Public

Function was approved by the As-sembly of Kosovo on November 2, 2007. This Law went into power on June 14, 2008, after being promul-gated by the SRSG.

This is the last Law, which had to be promulgated by the SRSG in order to go into power. Not even a year has past from the time this law went into power, and the Ko-sovo Government requests that the law should be changed and amended, by arguing that the cur-rent one contains many law loop-holes which cannot be covered by sublegal acts.

The Law on Preventing Conflict

of Interest aims at preventing con-flict amongst the public and private interests of an official, while exer-cising a public function. The fore-seen changes, mainly deal with renaming of various bodies and/or public functions, such as: the word “agjencion” to be replaced with the word “agjenci”; the word “Chief Executive Officer” to be replaced with the word “Director of Adminis-tration and Personnel” (this is hap-pening because with the new Law on Local Self Government, the position of Chief Executive Officer has been removed).

Likewise, according to the fore-seen changes, the list of public officials will have new additions,

such as: the Governor of the Cen-tral Bank, the Commander of KSF, the Director of AKI, the General Di-rector of the Police, the Director of KTA, the Director of Customs, the leaders of KRPP and OSHPP, as well as the leader of KPA, etc.

After the Law on Changing and Fulfilling the Law on Preventing the Conflict of Interest goes into power, the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) will be obliged to implement this law. The Draft Law does not carry additional budget costs, because ACA already pos-sesses a budget for this issue. The ACA operates on a staff of 35 peo-ple and its annual budget for 2009 is 504,553 Euros.


Law on Preventing Conflict of Interest is amended

18

Youth gets its own law

€7,000 allocated for the family of Erion Foniqi, the child who died from stray dogs attacks


In its 60th meeting, April’s first, with the Decision 09/60 the Govern-

ment of Kosovo has approved the Draft Law on Youth Empowerment and Participation. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports has draft-ed the Law and is also responsible for its implementation. The Draft Law consists of 20 articles. According to Article 1, the aim of this Draft Law is ‘The advancement and continuous reaffirmation of youth participation in decision making process, without any discrimination or differences, to-ward creating a democratic society, with the intention of improving the life quality of youth and their status in the society’.

According to the Draft Law, youth is a term used for those aged 15-

24. The Draft Law does not contain anything concrete except a promise that institutions will be committed towards strengthening the youth. It declares that the youth will be treat-ed equally with other social catego-ries. Such declaration is somehow similar to any declaration of human rights.

The Draft Law defines the obliga-tions of the central and local levels. According to it, the organ in charge for youth at the central level is the Youth Action Council. The Council is a voluntary organization of youth organizations operating in Kosovo and represents a counseling set up

for youth matters. At the local level, this responsi-

bility is given to Local Youth Action Council, which is a counseling set up of local youth organizations. The Draft Law also defines the status of youth centers. Youth centers offer opportunities for youth programs. Youth centers are licensed from directorates, or local departments for youth, based on an administra-tive instruction to be issued by the MCYS.

In addition, the Draft Law also describes the voluntary activities of youth. In case of doing voluntary jobs, young people should sign a contract voluntary work with the em-ployer. The period of the voluntary engagement should count as work

experience. This should be consid-ered as an advantage in case of job application. The definition of volun-tary work – as job experience – is the only benefit this law provides for the youth. This is to encourage youth for more voluntary engage-ments, and at the same time, let them gain some job experience – something that many young people lack and therefore fail to qualify for many job offers.

MCYS, within 6 months of pass-ing of this law, is obliged to issue an administrative instruction, defining the main ministries that are obliged to implement the Youth Law; and ad-

ministrative instruction for licensing youth centers; and an instruction for determining the methods and ways of informal education.

Drafting these three sub-legal acts will cost 5,000 euro. It is not clear how 5,000 euro should be spent on drafting the sub-legal acts, when the salaries that MCYS legal officers get should cover this cost.

The implementation of this Law will cost the Kosovo Budget 381,000 euro for the July 2009-2011 period. For 2009, no funds have been al-located from the Kosovo Budget for this issue. This money will be used for creating mechanisms for regular consultations with youth organiza-tions, at the central and the local level (42,000 euro); implementing the obligations that come out of vol-untary work (50,000 euro); imple-menting and monitoring the Law on Youth Center’s Licensing (100,000 euro); drafting sub-legal acts (5,000 euro); and the development of in-formal education plans (920,000 euro).

According to the declaration of the Agency for European Develop-ment and Integration Coordination, the draft law on strengthening the youth and youth participation does not conflict the principles of acquis communautaire. This agency has also done lots of language correc-tions in the English lan-guage translation of this Draft Law. As it seems, the department for translation at MCYS is not at a profes-sional level, since their fail-ures need to be covered by AE-DIC, whose duty is not language correction.

19

The Draft Law on Youth Empowerment and Participation is a document that declares Kosovo’s institutions commitment toward youth empowerment, but does not offer anything concrete in this direction

During the governmental meeting of April 23, 2009, the Govern-

ment of Kosovo has set aside 7,000 Euros for the Foniqi family, from the Karaqeve village of the Kamenica

Municipality. During the month of march this year, the eight year old Erion Foniqi, was on his way home from school – when he lost his life from severe injuries caused by stray

dogs. This tragic case lead to many reactions towards the local and central institutions, which have not taking any preventive measures in eliminating stray dogs.

With the initiative and request made by Radio “Urban FM”,

the Government of Kosovo has set aside 39,736 Euros to organize the international music festival, honor-ing the 10th anniversary of Kosovo’s freedom.

The Festival was held on June 12 and 13, 2009, in Arena field. Radio “Urban FM” was responsible for or-ganizing the event, under the super-vision from the Office of the Prime

Minister. According to “Urban FM”, the idea for this type of

music festival, with interna-tional outreach, was pres-ent long time ago; however, only now they were able to secure financial support from the government. “Ur-

ban FM” hopes that starting from this year, this will become a tradi-tional music festival. Besides the 39,736 Euros given by the govern-

ment, PTK, British Airways and Nor-wegian Liaison Office have also pro-vided additional financial support. The event organizers have prom-

ised to bring prominent international artists to this festival, including the American signer Fat Joe. In the end, Method Man & Redman, and

Gus Gus were the international star attractions at the festival, with Blla Blla Blla from Macedonia providing the most electrifying performance.


€39,736 for Freedom Festival

These funds were set aside from the Unforeseen Governmental Reserves. According to the

Kosovo Budget for 2009, the Unforeseen Reserves reach the sum of 2.5 million Euros. During the first quarter of 2009, the Government of Kosovo took seven decisions that include financing from the “Unforeseen Reserves” Fund. Until now, 635,438

Euros were used, or 25.4% of the total fund

Based on the Government Deci-sion no.04/62, 30,000 Euros

were allocated for erecting the stat-ue of war martyr Adrian Krasniqi. This money was transferred to the account of the Association of Ko-sovo War Veterans – Peja branch. This association is responsible for the implementation of this project.

Besides the financial means provid-ed by the government, this project also includes funds from the Peja Municipality. The Peja Municipality provided the land where the statue is to be built, in downtown Peja, and it also gave a contribution of 70,000 Euros to help the families of KLA War Veterans.

Adrian Krasniqi (1972-1997) was one of the founders of KLA, who gave his life heroically in battle on October 16, 1997, in Kliçina. The statue will be erected in Peja, in his honor. The statue is foreseen to be erected by October 16, 2009, on the 12 anniversary of Adrian Kras-niqi’s death.

€30,000 for erecting the statue of war martyr Adrian Krasniqi

20

The list of individuals with the right to a diplomatic passport is extended

The Regulation on Foreign Service is approved


Based on the Governmental Deci-sion no. 05/60, the Kosovo Gov-

ernment has decided that the list of individuals who have the right to re-ceive a diplomatic passport should also include: the Chief of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA). This Gov-ernmental decision is based on the Law on Travel Documents and the previous Governmental Decision no. 02/31. More specifically, the Decision no. 05/60 of April 8, 2009 supple-ments the Decision 02/31 of August 27, 2008.

The Law on Travel Documents has entered into force on June 15, 2008. According to this law, there are six types of existing travel documents: passport, diplomatic passport, official passport, travel document – travel document for returns, group travel document, and the travel documents that are released based on interna-tional agreements. Unlike the regular passports, which are issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, diplomatic passports are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to article 10, of the Law on Travel Documents, diplomatic passports are issued to the follow-ing individuals: the President of Ko-sovo, the President of the Assembly, members of the Kosovo Assembly, the Prime Minister and members of the Government, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Chairman of the Supreme Court, Public Attorney, em-ployees of the diplomatic offices and consulates, members of Foreign Mis-

sions of the Republic of Kosovo, the leaders of state delegations of the Republic of Kosovo, individuals, who, based on a decision of the Kosovo Government, go for official work in in-ternational organizations as diplomatic officials, diplomatic couriers and other appointed individuals, if this serves the interests of the Republic of Kosovo.

The diplomatic passport can also be issued to close family members of

the employees working in Diplomatic and Consular Missions of the Repub-lic of Kosovo in foreign countries; it can also be issued to family members of a person, who, based on decision from the government, goes to work for an international organization, which live together as a family outside of Ko-sovo; as well as to close family mem-bers of the person highlighted in the first paragraph, who accompany them in an official trip outside the country.

According to article 17, a diplo-matic passport is issued only for the time required to complete the official duty. However, the validity period of this passport cannot be longer than 5 years. Diplomatic passports are given based upon requests from the respec-tive governmental body.

Based on the final provisions of the Law on Travel Documents, the Government of Kosovo, considering

the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), within the timeframe of three months after this law goes into power, is obliged to set forward the required criteria for determining the interests of the Republic of Kosovo, based on which, diplomatic and offi-cial passports may be issued.

Based on this law, the Government of Kosovo, on August 27, 2008, has approved the Governmental Decision 02/31, which recapitulates the official positions requiring diplomatic pass-ports. This list does not include the position of the Chief of the Intelligence Agency. At the time when the Govern-mental Decision 02/31 was approved, the person who would be in charge of this agency had not been ap-pointed yet. On February 4, 2009, Bashkim Smakaj was appointed as Chief of the Intelligence Agency. Hence, the Governmental Decision 05/60 includes the position of Bashkim Smakaj in this list of governmental officials, who reserve the right to receive a diplomatic passport.

According to the Ministry of For-eign Affairs, until April 31, 2009, 177 diplomatic passports have been is-sued. Every state that has recognized Kosovo, has also recognized Koso-vo’s diplomatic passports. Until now, 38 states have officially recognized Kosovo passports, which means that 38 states have recognized its diplo-matic passports as well.

The Government of the Republic of Kosovo, in its 61st governmental

meeting, has approved the Regula-tion on Foreign Service. The Law on Foreign Service had foreseen the drafting of the Regulation on For-eign Service within three months from Law’s entering into force. The Law went into power on January 14, 2009, whereas the Regulation was approved on April 23, 2009, hence, within the official timeframe. The Regulation is of critical importance as it further completes the legal base

for the functioning of Kosovo’s for-eign policy.

The Law on Foreign Services has left aside many important issues, which are to be addressed through sublegal acts and through the Regu-lation on Foreign Service. According to the Regulation, Kosovo’s Foreign Service is consisted of permanent members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), as well as diplomatic and consular missions in foreign countries and international organi-zations. The Regulation determines

the duties and responsibilities of the chief of mission – the Ambassador, or another specific person who has been authorized to undertake this function.

The eligibility criteria for a candi-date to be accepted within the Ko-sovo’s Foreign Service are: Kosovo citizenship, the ability to take action, to have a clear police record, to have a clear file in terms of disciplinary measures for expulsion from work, to be physically fit to complete his/her duty, to have an adequate pro-

21

Until now, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued 177 diplomatic passports


The Assembly of Kosovo, has for the first time approved the Law on

Forests on February 13, 2003. The Law on Forests has been amended on July 28, 2004, where explanations have been added regarding penalties – in cases of deteriorations of forests.

On the meeting of April 29, 2009, the Government of Kosovo has ap-proved the Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on For-ests. The Government has argued in favor of the new Law, claiming that the current Law is not being imple-ment in practice. The Law on Forests

dating from 2003, which is currently in power, is very poorly written, hard to understand and has an improper syntax structure. As such, it should be substituted by a new law.

The greatest changes, foreseen in the Law on Forests deal with the decentralization of competences for supervision and protection of forests. Until now, this has been a competen-cy of the Ministry of Agriculture, For-estry and Rural Development, more specifically, the Kosovo Forestry Agency. After the approval of the new

changes within the Law, management competencies will be transferred to respective municipalities. Article 38 of the Law on Forests foresaw reserved competencies for the SRSG, related to the final authority in this field. How-ever, with the recent changes in this Law, this article will be removed com-pletely. There will also be changes re-lated to penalties. If the provisions of this law are not met, the penalties in that case will range from 400 – 25,000 Euros, depending on the damages caused by natural or legal persons.

Law on Forests is amended

fessional degree, to be fluent in at least one foreign language, and to be able to pass the admissions exam prepared by the MFA.

In addition to the eligibility criteria, the preferred criteria further include: fluent knowledge of the language of the state applying for, knowledge on the applying state, or the region where the applying state is located, and integrating skills within the coun-try they’re applying for. The time-frame of an appointed duty within the Foreign Service is four years, with the exception of Consular Agents and Honorary Consuls – whose du-ties are not limited in time.

The Regulation also establishes the Ranks and Disciplinary Commit-tee, which has a wide function in the Foreign Service. The Ranks and Dis-ciplinary Committee reviews cases where there have been significant vi-olations of ethics and official instruc-tions from the Ministry or the Ambas-sadors/Charges d’Affaires/Heads of Missions, illegal actions and other

improper actions for a member of the Foreign Service.

The Committee is in charge of val-idating the appointment of ranks to the members who enter the Foreign Service, as well as rank the officials within the framework of the existing

work performance evaluation sys-tem. The Committee will meet once during the fall season and once dur-ing spring, as well as any other time when deemed necessary, in order to verify the appointment of ranks and review cases where there have been possible violations. The Committee is consisted of seven members: Perma-nent Secretary, who chairs the Com-mittee at the same time, the General Director, two Ambassadors who are on official duty, one representative

from the Presidents’ Office, one rep-resentative from the Prime Ministers’ Office, and one representative from the non-majority community.

Based on the Law on Foreign Service, diplomatic ranks include: Ambassador, Minister, Advisor Minis-

ter, Advisor, First Secretary, Second Secretary, Third Secretary and At-taché. Whereas the consular ranks include: General Consul, Consul, Deputy Consul and Consular Agent. The disciplinary measures include: written warning, up to two years sus-pension from official duty, up to two years suspension from a promotion to a higher rank, a reduction in rank and expulsion from the Foreign Ser-vice – meaning work termination.

By the Regulation on Foreign Service, which derives from the Law on Foreign Service, a very important

body is established under the Kosovo Foreign Service – the Ranks and Disciplinary Committee

22

Draft Law on Independent Supervisory Council is added to the 2009 Legislative Strategy

The Government appoints members of the Language Use Committee


The 2009 Legislative Strategy is continuously being expanded

by new draft laws, which are be-ing added every month. In April, the Draft Law on the Independent Supervisory Council (ISC) of Ko-sovo was added. Initially, the ISC was established based on UN-MIK Regulation 2001/36 on Civil Service. The ISC was an agency within the former Ministry of Pub-lic Services and reported to this Ministry up to February 28, 2008, when the SRSG amended the UNMIK Regulation 2001/36. Cur-rently, the ISC is an independent agency, which reports directly to

the Kosovo Assembly, whereas the Assembly forwards its re-ports to the Prime Minister. How-ever, UNMIK Regulation 2008/12, which amended UNMIK Regula-tion 2001/36, does not specify a timeframe on when should the ISC report to the Kosovo Assem-bly.

According to UNMIK Regula-tion 2001/36, the functions of the ISC are: 1) Reviewing the com-plaints submitted by civil servants and applicants, who apply for work within the Kosovo Civil Service; 2) Review of job appointments in the ranks of department heads; and

3) Evaluation in line with the Guid-ing Principles of the Civil Service.

According to ISC 2007 Annual Work Report, during this year, the ISC has received 384 complaints. These complaints deal with the following issues: 127 complaints regarding termination of work contracts; 138 complaints for non-renewal of work contracts; 40 complaints for questioning the vacancy announcements; 11 complaints for position degrada-tion; 26 complaints for material compensation; etc. The ISC did not publish the annual work report for 2008 yet.

During the government meet-ing of April 8, 2009, the Gov-

ernment of Kosovo appointed the members of the Language Use Committee. The following were appointed as members: Fehmi Stublla – representative of the Of-fice of the Prime Minister, who will also chair the Committee; Fadil Bytyçi – representative of the As-sembly of Kosovo; Bedri Bahtiri – from the Ministry of Justice; Selami Osmani – representative from the Ministry of Public Ad-ministration; Dragana Zhivkoviq – Representative from the Minis-try for Communities and Returns; Nazan Safçi – from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technol-ogy; and Fitim Tahiri – from the Ministry of Local Governance Ad-ministration.

The Language Use Committee, as well as the Government Deci-sion for appointing its member, is based on the Law on Language Use. The Law aims to ensure the use of all official languages and minority languages within the lo-

cal institutions in Kosovo, as well as in other enterprises or orga-nizations, which include public functions and services. The Law ensures an equal status of Alba-nian and Serbian language – as the official languages in Kosovo, as well as equal rights to use these two languages in all institu-tions of Kosovo.

The Committee on Language Use is responsible for implement-ing the Law on Languages. Ac-cording to Article 32, the Com-mittee on Language Use shall take all necessary measures and actions in order to ensure equal status recognition for both official languages. The Committee on Language Use may also inves-tigate on its own initiatives and may also interfere in any situation where such action is necessary to ensure the full implementa-tion of this law. Concluding the investigation, the Committee on Language Use may provide rec-ommendations for the required modifications and recommend

further necessary im-provements. The Law also foresees the draft-ing of an administrative directive, to be issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, 90 days after the Law goes into power.

The competencies, details and the composition of the Committee are determined by taking into ac-count the rights and interests of all the language communities in Kosovo, as well as the need to represent the language differenc-es between various communities in Kosovo.

In the previous mandate, the Committee was not functional. However, after the decision by the Government to appoint its new members, the Committee is in consolidation phase and draft-ing a new work plan. The Com-mittee does not have a specific date as to how many times it should meet, however the mem-bers have decided to meet once a month.

23

In its 60th meeting, the Govern-ment of Kosovo has made available

35,276 Euros for celebrating April 23rd, the National Turkish Day. These funds have been taken from the “Un-foreseen Reserves” of the Govern-ment and have been transferred to

the bank account of the NGO “Mul-tiethnic Society of Kosovo”.

According to the Law on Official Holidays in the Re-public of Kosovo, April 23rd is the National Turkish Day. However, it is not an official holiday, but a memorial day. It’s the same as November

28th – the Albanians’ Day; June 12th – Peace Day; April

8th – Romas’ Day; February 15th – Ashkalis’ Day; September 28th –

Bosniacs’ Day; and May 6th – Gorans’ Day.

The Governmental Decision does not specify anything regarding the role of the Republican Committee on Holidays, which, according to the Law on Official Holidays, is obliged to specify and prepare the rules and procedures for celebrations of official holidays and memorial days. The Re-publican Committee on Holidays was founded by the Governmental deci-sion no.06/31, of August 27, 2008.

“Multiethnic Society of Kosovo” NGO has requested funding from the Government of Kosovo, in order to finance organizing of celebrations in the honor of April 23. The Govern-ment of Kosovo has responded posi-tively to this request and on April 21,

they transferred 35,276 to this orga-nization’s bank account. Using these funds, the “Multiethnic Society of Ko-sovo” NGO has organized an 8-day program, from April 18th – 25th. The festivities have been held in all the cities of Kosovo which are populated by the Turkish community, such as Prizren, Mitrovica, Vushtrri, Gjilan and Prishtina. The main celebration was held on April 23 in Prizren, with rep-resentatives from local institutions as well as representatives from Turkey.

“Multiethnic Society of Kosovo” is obliged to submit a detailed report to the Government showing the expen-ditures and the implementation of the program. However, no deadline for this report has been specified within the obligations of the NGO.


Administrative Directive for the Circular Seal is approved

€35,276 for celebrating the Turkish Day

Based on governmental decision 19/61, the Government of Kos-

ovo approved the Administrative Di-rective for the Circular Seal. This de-cision is based on the Law on Seals of the Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo. According to the Law on Seals of the Institutions of the Re-public of Kosovo, which predefines the shape and content of the seal; the procedure for the work method, usage and the authorization for the usage of the seal in the Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo. The Min-istry of Public Administration will au-thorize the seal usage by a specific institution.

All institutions should have only one seal, with the exception of spe-cial circumstances when they might require an additional small seal. An institution is allowed to have more than one seal, if this institution con-ducts its activities in more than one facility, and if this need is reason-able based on the requirements of work activity being conducted.

The seal is used only on acts, documents and letters, which are previously signed by an authorized person. There are three types of seals currently being used: circu-lar, rectangular, and the seal used by the Municipalities, containing the

municipal emblem. The circular seal has a diameter of 40mm, 50mm and 60mm, depending on the length of the text and the number of languag-es the seal is required to contain.

The seal which is used to pro-tocol various letters is rectangular. Its dimensions are 35mm x 70 mm. However, if necessary, it may have different dimensions as well. On the other hand, the Municipalities of Kosovo use their seal in acts which do not require the official emblem of Kosovo, according to the provisions of the Law on the Usage of State Symbols of Kosovo.

24

€4,150 allocated for the 10th anniversary of the Serbian massacre in the Dubrava Prison

Government approves the 2009-2011 National Action Plan for People with Disabilities of the Republic of Kosovo

During the governmental meeting of April 30, 2009,

the Government of Kosovo de-cided to set aside 4,150 Euros to mark the 10th anniversary of the Serbian massacre in the Dubrava Prison. The memorial

ceremony will be held on May 22, 2009. This money will be given to the Association of the Political Prisoners of Kosovo, which is responsible for the organization of the ceremony. It will be organized in Prishti-

na and in the Dubrava Prison.

Between May 19 and 24, 1999, 170 prisons were killed and 200 others wounded in the Dubrava Prison.


During the 12th government meeting, held on March 20,

2008, it has been decided to ini-tiate the procedure for drafting a 2009-2011 National Action Plan for People with Disabili-ties of the Republic of Kosovo. The main aim of this action plan is to harmonize Kosovo laws with international laws, as well as the respect the eight main principles laid out by this docu-ment: respecting the inalienable dignity, autonomy, including the freedom to make individual de-cisions, and the independence of people; non-discrimination, full and equal participation and involvement within the society; respect for the differences and acceptance of people with dis-abilities, as part of a diverse society; equal opportunities; approach; gender equality; as well as respecting the evolv-ing capacities of a child with disabilities; and respecting the rights of a child with disabilities to preserve their identity.

These principles should be fulfilled within the education sector, health, employment and

social protection. In the health sector, the Action Plan for Peo-ple with Disabilities foresees the accomplishment of the fol-lowing five objectives: 1) Gen-eral care, free of charge for all the people with disabilities; 2) Drafting of the national pro-gram for professional approach of healthcare providers towards

the people with disabilities, in accordance with international standards on human rights; 3) Improving the approach to-wards healthcare infrastruc-ture; 4) Improving the services for rehabilitation of the people with disabilities; 5) Permanent placement of sign language in-terpreters within the local and national healthcare system.

In the education sector, the foreseen objectives to be ac-

complished are: 1) Creating equal opportunities for the people with disabilities within the education system; 2) Im-plementing the legislation for people with disabilities related to the education system; 3) Guaranteeing a general edu-cation system in all pre-school institutions; 4) Programs of

professional development for general education for teachers and other staff within the edu-cation system; and 5) Improv-ing the competences of people with disabilities on a municipal level.

MTEF 2009-2011 foresees financial means for these and other objectives outlined in the field of employment and social welfare.

25

In order for the people with disabilities to have equal access in education, health and

social services, this action plan outlines the objectives and activities which are to be

completed by 2009-2011

In the governmental meeting held on ¬¬April 23, 2009, the

Government of Kosovo has al-located 4,265 Euros to mark April 27 – the Kosovo Missing Persons Day. The Governmental Committee for Lost People, in

cooperation with the Asso-ciations of the Families of

Missing Persons and in-ternational organizations involved in the process of finding these people, have organized a round of activities to mark this

day.The main activities, or-

ganized by this Committee were: a photo exhibition held in

the National Theatre from April 24 to 27; a round table discus-sion organized on April 25 in the Government’s building on the topic “After 10 years, the fate of the lost ones needs to be enlight-ened”; organizing visits to the families of the lost ones; organiz-ing visits to the graveyards and memorials, in cooperation with the local authorities; as well as organizing a Memorial Academy in Meja, Gjakova.

The money provided by the Government was used to cover the expenditures of the photo exhibition (paper, photo holders, payments for the supervising staff, photo coating, etc), round-

table expenditures (food, drinks), expenditures from the memo-rial academy (placement of the speaking booth/stage, sound, office supplies, copying, travel, photo displays), expenditures for visits (mourning garlands, signature plates, blouses, travel expenses for members of the Organizing Council, telephone expenditures), etc. This money is expected to be transferred to the bank accounts of the respec-tive organizations/associations involved in this activity, on the third week of this month.

Ten years after the end of the war, the fate of 1907 lost people remains unresolved.


The Government allocates €4,265 to mark April 27 – the Kosovo Missing Persons Day

After Law on Food went into power, Administrative Directive 18/2005 needs changingAfter many reviews, the Law

on Food was approved by the Assembly of Kosovo, during February 2009. According to this law, the Agency on Food Safety and Veterinary, which is a part of

the Ministry of Agriculture, has moved as an agency within the Office of the Prime Minister. After the Law on Food was approved, there was an evident need to modify the accompanying sub-

legal acts and their adaptation in accordance with the Law. The governmental decision does not specify a timeline as to when this administrative directive should be finalized.

26

In April 2008, the Government of Kosovo has approved the Na-

tional Strategy and Action Plan of the Republic of Kosovo for the Integrated Border Management. The Strategy and the Action Plan are drafted by the Ministry of In-ternal Affairs, which, together with the Ministry of Economy and Fi-nances and the Veterinary Agen-cy and Food Agency, is obliged to implement it.

According to the Strategy, the Integrated Border Management

(IBM) means national and interna-tional cooperation among all au-thorities who are in charge of bor-der security and facilitating free movement of people and goods, as well as the establishment of an effective and efficient system of integrated boarder management, in order to achieve the common goal of having open boarders but well controlled and secure.

The National Strategy of the Republic of Kosovo for IBM fol-lows the guidance of EU’s IBM for the Western Balkans and is focused on three main agen-cies who are responsible for the border: Kosovo Police, Kosovo Customs, and Kosovo Veterinary and Food Agency. In addition, it includes a number of other agen-cies, who are active in the field of boarder management.

The geographical area of the Republic of Kosovo is defined by the Ahtisaari Package, as of the border definition of December 31,

1988. The border with the Repub-lic of Albania is partially marked, while the one with republic of Macedonia is almost finalized. The border with the Republic of Montenegro and republic of Ser-bia is expected to be marked in the future.

The area of the Republic of Kosovo is 10,908 square km, with the following national bor-der length: Albania – 113.551 km, Macedonia – 170.772 km, Mon-tenegro – 79.165 km, and Ser-

bia – 380.068 km. Almost all the national borders are in rural and mountains areas.

Currently there are 13 func-tional border crossing points in Kosovo and two temporary bor-der crossing points in Krushevë and Orqushë, which are under the supervision of the Vërmica border crossing point. The road border crossing points between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Albania are Vërmica, Qafa e Prushit and Qafa e Mori-nës; with the Republic of Monte-negro there is Kulla; with the Re-public of Serbia there is Bërnjak, Jarinje, Merdare, Mutivodë, Dheu i Bardhë and Muçibabë; and with the Republic of Macedonia there is Hani Elezit and Glloboçica crossing points.

The rail border crossing points between Republic of Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia is Hani Elezit, while with the Republic of Serbia is Leshaku and Merdare

(out of service). The air border crossing point is Prishtina Inter-national Airport.

Currently, KFOR continues to be in charge of the Green Bor-der and Blue Border (rivers). The main agencies of the Republic of Kosovo included in IBM are: Ko-sovo Police – MIA, Kosovo Cos-tums – MEF and the Agency of Veterinary and Food – AVFK. The National Integrated Border Man-agement and Control is mainly a competency of MIA. Integrated in the Kosovo Police is the Border Police (BP), who is responsible for management and control of crossing points. The Kosovo Cus-toms has a wide mission, start-ing from the country defense, economy and its citizens. AVFK is responsible for securing the pub-lic health, health of animals and plants, as well as the security of products of plant origin.

The strategy defines some ob-jectives that should be achieved, while the Action Plan provides a clearer overview on how and when they will be achieved: the harmo-nization of the Internal Kosovo Police Regulation with the legislation in charge (No-vember 2009); organiza-tional structure of Border Police (November 2009); the advancement of co-operation among depart-ments within the Kosovo Police (November 2009); securing necessary equip-ments for Border Police (May 2011); achieving European stan-dards in the legislation field (June 2010), etc.

The realization of all objectives will cost the Budget of Kosovo around 27 million euro, for the May 2009 – June 2012 period.

Kosovo’s National Strategy for the Integrated Border Management and its Action Plan are approved


27

This strategy identifies 57 objectives which should be fulfilled by July 2012. For the accomplishment of these objectives, 27 million euro are needed, not including the administrative cost

The current objectives of the 2005-2015 Energy Strategy have not been met thus far

Ahead of the KEK privatization pro-

cess, the Government of Kosovo wants to elimi-nate all uncertainties re-

lated to KEK’s financial obligations. Because of

this, the Government of Ko-sovo, based on the Government Decision 02/60, has supported the MEFs explanatory decision regarding KEKs tax obligations, related to energy imports.

KEK was obliged to pay VAT on the imported energy. However, KEK never complied to this obli-gation, by relying on the Memo-randum of Understanding signed between Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and Kosovo Tax Administration (KTA). This deci-sion was taken upon the request of the Kosovo Customs, accord-ing to which, KEK is not paying for the imported energy.

Based on governmental de-cision 02/60, KEK will not be obliged to pay VAT on its energy imports, however it has to clear all its outstanding debts to the Ko-sovo Tax Administration. Based on the new Law on VAT, KEK will pay the VAT on internal energy at a rate of 16%. This decision will stop being implemented the day when KEKs supply and distribu-tion division are privatized.

KEK’s obligations towards the Tax Administration are finally clarified

The Government of Kosovo, based on Government Deci-

sion 20/61, has approved the Progress Report for the imple-mentation program of the 2006-2008 Energy Strategy. During October 2005, the Government of Kosovo approved the 2005-2015 Energy Strategy. This strat-egy contains two types of objec-tives: short-term objectives, to be implemented within the next 3

years – up to 2008; and long-term objectives, to be implemented by 2015.

According to the Law on Ener-gy, MEM is obliged to prepare the implementation program for the Strategy, in a timeframe of at least three years. The Law on Energy, also envisages that MEM, as the competent authority for this is-sue, shall propose the necessary changes to the Energy Strategy,

in a timeframe of three years, which MEM hasn’t done yet.

According to the Strategy, the objectives for the 2005-2015 pe-riod are: 1) Within this period, the minimum electrical energy production capacity should be around 1800 MW; 2) KEK should be restructured, in order to en-sure complete billing by 2009 of all the recorded electrical energy; 3) Modernize the transportation


28

and distribution network, by en-suring their integration with the regional and European energy networks, and by reducing the technical losses in the level of international standards by 2010-2012; 4) To increase the stake of the private sector, with at least 60% investment financing in the entire energy sector; 5) By the end of 2012, the regional centers of Kosovo should be equipped with district heating systems and Kosovo should be connected to the regional gas grid; 6) By 2010, re-pair all the damages within the existing thermo power plants in Kosovo; 7) Increase consum-ers’ awareness for rational use of electrical energy; 8) Form new capacities for research and de-velopment etc.

As for the 2006-2008 period, the objectives that should be achieved are as follows: ensur-ing enough lignite supply from the mines for the existing thermo power plants; starting immedi-ately the preparations for open-ing a new mining field in Sibovc; preparation of an Action Plan for regenerating the depleted coal zones; establishing new cooper-ation deals with the neighboring

countries for exchange of electri-cal energy; initiating the prepara-tions for building the capacities for the interconnecting 400 KW network with the electrical grid of Albania; improving the manage-ment and further equipping the existing thermo power plants, through regular maintenance procedures; revitalizing the TC Kosova A, during 2006; preparing the necessary documentation to

attract potential investors for the new thermo power plant; prepar-ing the necessary documentation for the tender to build and oper-ate the Zhur hydro power plant; publishing the offer for revitalizing of small hydro power plants; dur-ing 2008 or latest by 2009, the Government will aim to offer the Mines, TC Kosova A, TC Kosova B and Supply Division through concession, or by privatizing them partially or fully. Were these objectives met?

MEM has published a Progress Report for this issue, regarding the implementation program for

the Kosovo Energy Strategy, for the period 2006-2008. According to this report, the Ministry of En-ergy and Mining has made some actions which touch upon each of the abovementioned objectives. However, none of them are com-pleted.

The Sitnica sector has been activated; the preparation works for opening the southwestern Si-bovc mine have been completed;

the old blocks of TC Kosova A have been repaired, however they were not fully equipped; there have been some invest-ments in the networks capcity, however the

400 KW network line with Alba-nia remains only on paper; the draft laws for the district heating system and natural gas have not been drafted yet, however MEM claims they will be finalized very soon; the legislation for energy efficiency and re-newable energy sources has been drafted, while on the other hand MEM did not prepare the ten-dering package for the small hydro power plants, which they claim is in the fi-nal stages of preparation.

According to report, the Ministry of Energy and Mining has made some

actions which touch upon each objective. However, none of them have been achieved completely


29

The procedure for drafting the National Strategy Against Family Violence and Action Plan has been initiated

Based on the Government De-cision no.07/60, the Govern-

ment of Kosovo founded the Working Group on Drafting the Basic Document of the Draft Law on Naming the Municipalities and Villages. This working group is con-sisted of representatives from the Ministries, Munici-

palities, the Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Republic

of Kosovo, Archives Agency, Al-banological Institute and Institute of

History.The Working Group will be lead

by the Ministry of Local Governance Administration (MLGA). MLGA has drafted an action plan for the meet-ings with representatives of each institution, as appointed in the Gov-ernmental Decision. According to MLGA, after individual meetings with every institution, which are chaired by the Deputy Minister of the MLGA, a joint counseling will be organized, in order to finalize the Basic Docu-ment for the Draft Law on Naming

the Municipalities and Villages. The deadline to submit this Draft Law to the Government of Kosovo is the end of 2009.

The Law anticipates to make the official naming of sights in Kosovo go smoothly. After the war in 1999, many places carry different names than the ones they had before the war. In many cases these new names were not officially accepted from the Municipalities or the Inter-national Administration in Kosovo.

The Working Group on Drafting the Basic Document of the Draft Law on Naming Municipalities and Villages is founded

During the 62nd government meeting, Decision 03/62 was

taken, thereby initiating the proce-dure to draft the National Strategy Against Family Violence and Ac-tion Plan. The Agency for Gender Equality (AGE), which is under the Office of the Prime Minister, will be in charge of drafting the strategy. There is no specific timeline for drafting this strategy. In European

Commissions’ Progress Report for Kosovo, published on October 2008, the Kosovo Government was highly criticized for not pub-lishing a strategy for the protection of women. This report also point-ed out significant lack of capac-ity within the Agency for Gender Equality.

The strategy is highly unlikely to be published before the 2009

Progress Report is published. Ac-cording to the AGE officials, the strategy will serve as a national guide towards improving the cur-rent services, for prevention, se-curity, justice and fair treatment of victims and abusers of family vio-lence. Furthermore, it shall stimu-late adequate development and wellbeing of the Kosovar society.

In order for this strategy to be


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Decision 03/52 establishing the Committee for Management of the Minority, Multiethnic and Other Special Groups Media Support Fund

Committee for managing the fund to support minority, multi-ethnic media and other special groups, which was established in January 2009 through Govern-

ment Decision no.03/52, is re-sponsible for analyzing all com-peting projects until May 20, 2009, whereas after this date, the win-ning party for these funds should

be announced. From the closing date of the public call, April 20, 2009, there were 53 local media who applied.

Implementation of January DecisionsI In January 2009, Government

of Kosovo took 18 decisions. In this issue, we will report the follow-up activities and steps

of the 5 government decisions, which had difficulties to be im-plemented until now, or are in the process of finalization. For

other decisions, please check the previous issues of GAP Monitor.

as all-inclusive as possible, AGE, in cooperation with its consultants, has identified three main pillars, on which the strategy will be based on. Likewise, it has selected the required representatives of the working groups, in cooperation

with whom they plan to complete this process. The three main pil-lars identified by AGE are: preven-tion, protection and security, sup-port and treatment.

On May 27, the AGE will orga-nize the first meeting with all of its

associates, who are considered to be active participants in this pro-cess. The activities calendar was also be presented, according to which the strategy will be de-veloped.

Decision 07/51 on Complete Reconstruction of National Martyr Hasan Ramadani’s Family Home

On January 23, 2009, the Government of Kosovo took

the Decision no.07/51 on the allocation of €20,000 for renovations of the house belonging to the family of the martyr Hasan Ramadani,

from Podujeva Municipality. Implementation of this decision is done through the Association of KLA War Veterans, Podujeva Branch. Renovation of the house started in March, 2009 and it still continues.

Decision 03/49 on allowing Office for Communities to employ additional staffWith the Government Decision

No. 03/49, the Government of Ko-sovo on January 2009, allowed the Office for Communities within the Office of the Prime Minister to re-cruit additional staff, in accordance with organizational chart presented from the Office. Based on organi-zational chart, the Office for Com-

munities will have 6 employees, 3 of them are already employed, and 3 additional employees, which the Government has approved, who will be working as: office for politics, of-ficer of finance, and the PR and field officer. The Office for Communities has issued the call for the job ap-plication, and in total there were 28

people: 15 of them applied for the post of the political officer, 7 of them for the officer of finance and grants, and 6 of them for the post of PR and field officer. The interview will be conducted very soon, and as such this decision is coming to the end phase of implementation.

Decision 06/51 on Rebuilding Damaged Houses in “Kroi i Vitakut” Neighborhood in MitrovicaWith the government decision No. 06/51, the Government of Kosovo, on January 23, 2009, allocated €100,000 for the renovation of

the damaged houses in the “Kroi i Vitakut” neighborhood in Mitrovica. Renovation of the 5 houses started in April, 2009 and it still continues.


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Decision 02/54 on the Approval of the Proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Legislative Strategy for the Year 2009 of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo Includes the Draft Law on the Modification of the Law on Public Procurement 2003/17

Decision 02/55 on the Allocation of €150,000 for the Organization of Celebrations related

to the Anniversary of Kosovo’s IndependenceFor the

first Indepen-dence Anniversary

Celebrations, the Government of Kosovo with the Decision no.02/55 allocated €150,000 for organizing

the celebration on February 17, 2009. The Government of Kosovo did not publish any report showing how the public funds were spent. The report of expenses will be in-cluded in the Kosovo’s Budget 2009

First Quarter Expenditures Report. However, based on the expendi-ture report of the budget for the first quarter, there are no details how the means were spent.

Following the request of the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs, the Govern-ment of Kosovo with the Decision no. 02/54 decided to include in its Legislative Strategy, the Draft law of Amending and Supplementing the Law on Public Procurement. According to MFA, amending this law is mandatory, since in its actual

format Law on Public Procurement doesn’t allow MFA to do any pur-chase abroad, such as embassies. Based on government representa-tives the procedures of amending and supplementing the Law have started and they are planning to ap-prove changes during May.

Implementation of February DecisionsIn February the Government

of Kosovo took 13 decisions. In this issue we will report for

the decisions which are being implemented during April.

Decision 03/56 on the Approval of the request from the Governmental Committee on Demarcation of the Border between Republic of Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia, regarding the Allocation of € 279,276 for Continuation of Work in 2009

Government Decision No. 03/56 on allocating €

279.276 for border demar-cation and continuation of

the work for this specific issue, is still in the process of implemen-tation. The Governmental Com-mittee for Demarcation of the

Border didn’t finish its duty, yet. We will report for the follow-up of this process, when the issue of demarcation will be completed.


Decision 04/56 on the Allocating Funds for Rent Payment for North-Mitrovica Displaced Families

In February, 2009, through De-cision no.04/56 the Government of Kosovo allocated €360,000 for rent payments of the 300 North Mitrovica

displaced families. In the call for ap-plication, which was opened from the Municipality of Mitrovica, more 460 families have applied, but only

300 of them will benefit. Municipal-ity of Mitrovica did not decide for the beneficiaries yet. The winners will be publicly announced during June.

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Decision 06/57 on establishing the Intergovernmental Committee for Fiscal and Budgetary Matters

Decision 02/57 on Declaring “The New Excavation Field” a Zone of Special Economic Interest with a Surface of 143,254 square km

Decision 03/57 on Drafting the Spatial Plan for the Special Zone - “Sharr Mountain” National Park

Through Gov-ernment Decision

03/57, the Government of Kosovo asked MESP to compile the Spatial Plan for Sharr Mountain National Plan. Institute for Spatial Planning,

within MESP, has prepared a draft of this plan. The draft plan is pub-lished in the official website of MESP http://www.ks-gov.net/mmph/docu-ment/shqip/PNMSH_Plani_%20Hapësinor_%20260209_final.pdf.

The plan will soon be open to the public discussion for 60 days. Whereas, in September the plan will be sent to the Gov-ernment for approval.

With the Decision 02/57, the Gov-ernment of Kosovo declared the New Excavation Field: a zone of special economic interest. This entire zone has a surface of 143,254 square km. Spatial Plan for this zone is not composed yet. According to

the Institute for Spatial Planning, the working group was composed, and this plan is expected to be compiled in accelerated procedure and sent to the Government for approval in November/December 2009.

Implementation of March DecisionsDuring March 2009, the Gov-

ernment of Kosovo took 19 decisions. We analyzed and elaborated these decision in the third issue of GAP Monitor. In this

issue we will analyze 7 of them, implementation of which is con-tinuing during the month of April.

Decision 04/57 on Categorizing the Gadime Cave in Gadime of Lypjan Municipality Under the Monuments of Exceptional Importance Category

Through Government Decision 04/57, on March 13, 2009, the Gov-ernment of Kosovo decided that the Gadime Cave comes under insti-

tutional supervision. MESP is re-sponsible for implementing this de-cision. However, until now nothing concrete was done. Gadime Cave

is still under Nazif Tasholli’s management, while visitors pay €2.5 to enter.

In the meeting with Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, it was said that SEC will be meeting during May, however this meeting was not held. Moreover, no concrete decision was

taken, since MLSW didn’t provide any answer regarding who will rep-resent whom from the employers’ side. As a result, until the MLSW de-fines who will represent the majority,

none of the SEC functions will be executed. And as far as we can see SEC will have the same fate just like its predecessor, Trilateral Consulta-tive Council (TCC).


Decision 09/57 on establishing the Socio-Economic Council (SEC)

In its 57th government meeting, through Decision 06/57 the Gov-ernment of Kosovo established the Governmental Committee for Fis-cal and Budgetary Matters, in order to assist with the implementation of fiscal policies including the annual development of the Short-Term Expenditure Framework and the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. The Committee consists of the Prime

Minister, who also chairs the Com-mittee; and Ministers of the follow-ing ministries: MEF, MEST, MH, MESP, MTPT and MTI. This com-mittee is responsible for giving rec-ommendations to the Government regarding fiscal policies. Since the establishment of the Governmental Committee for Fiscal and Budget-ary Matters on March 13, 2009, un-til April 13, 2009 the Committee met

with the working group only once. In the meeting, a Professor from Slovenia was present, Mr. Mojmir Mrak (professional expert sent by DFID), who promised to provide recommendations for the Commit-tee itself, as well as the recommen-dations this group should provide to the Government. Next meeting is planned to be held on June.

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21

Decision 10/57 on Giving Support to the Novobërda Municipality Multiethnic Project

Through Decision no.10/57, the Government of Kosovo sup-ported the Multiethnic Project for the Municipality of Novobrdo, which offers sustainable solu-tion for 29 families through social

and economic assistance. Office of Communities within the Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for implementing this decision. Cur-rently, the project is in its initial phase of tendering procedure, for

which no time limit has been set. After the tendering procedure is finished, construction of the hous-es will start, for which no time limit has been set either.

Decision 03/59 on Authorizing the Expropriation of Land, namely the Vërmicë-Prizren Section, for the Construction of the Vërmicë-Merdare Highway

Decision 06/59 on the Approval of the Draft Law on Membership to the IMF and the World Bank Organizations Group

In its March 27 meeting, the Gov-ernment of Kosovo took the Deci-sion no.03/59, on expropriation of realty for the needs of constructing the Vërmicë – Merdare highway,

Vërmicë – Prizren section. MTPT composed the document, which identifies realty to be expropriated, including dimensions, positioning, and ownership of realties. MEF,

using the Law on Expropriation, is responsible for compensating re-alties to the citizens, even though this ministry did not do anything up till now.

In March, the Kosovo Govern-ment adopted the Law on Member-ship in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Or-ganizations (Decision No. 06/59). Section 2 of Decision requires im-mediate transfer of the Draft Law to the Kosovo Assembly for final approval. However, until May 15, 2009, the Draft Law has not been sent to the Assembly. According to

the representatives, the reasons for this delay came because of Kosovo Government not modify-ing some parts of the Draft Law. This draft law is a short one, with only 10 articles. The Law says that the Government of Kosovo is au-thorized in the name of Kosovo, to proceed with the membership in the International Monetary Fund, International Bank for Reconstruc-

tion and Development, Interna-tional Finance Corporation, Inter-national Development Association, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and International Center for Settlement of Investment Dis-putes. Within six months, after the agreements with IFM and WBO is signed, Kosovo should deposit €154 million.

To read all the GAP Monitor issues, together with other GAP Institute publications in English, please visit our webpage at:

www.gapinstitute.org

of Kosovo Government Decisions

gap monitorno.4, April 2009

In March, the Kosovo Government has held three regular meetings: meetings 57, 58 and 59, taking a total of 19 decisions, as follows:

1. Decisions from the 60th meeting of the Government of Kosovo, held on March 13, 2009:

1.1. Decision no.02/60 of confirming support to MEF to generate explanatory decision for clarification of VAT duties of Kosovo Energy Corporation, for electricity imports, as well as local energy supply; 1.2. Decision no.03/60, through which the members of the Language Use Committee are appointed; 1.3. Decision no.04/60, €35,276 allocated for organizing the celebration of April 23 Holiday, Day of the Turks; 1.4. Decision no.05/60, through which the Director of the Intelligence Agency is added to the list of people who can obtain diplomatic passports; 1.5. Decision no.06/60, through which MIA is asked to initiate the procedures of composing National Strategy for Migration and Action Plan; 1.6. Decision no.07/60, through which the Working Group on Drafting the Basic Document of the Draft Law on Naming the Municipalities and Villages is founded; 1.7. Decision no.08/60, through which National Strategy for Integrated Border Management and Action Plan were approved; 1.8. Decision no.09/60, Draft Law on Youth Empowerment and Participation was approved;

2. Decisions from the 61st meeting of the Government of Kosovo, held on April 23, 2009:

2.1. Decision no.02/61, through which the request of the MLSW to organize the job market “2009 Kosovo Job Market” in cooperation with Kosovo Business Alliance was approved. For the organization of this fair €36,830 were allocated;2.2. Decision no.03/61, through which the Government of Kosovo in its 2009 Legislative Strategy will include the Draft Law on the Independent Oversight Council;2.3. Decision no.04/61, through which €4,265 were allocated for the Missing Persons Day – April 27;2.4. Decision no.05/61, for amending Decision no.03/48 on appointing the Prishtina International Airport Board Members;2.5. Decision no.06/61, for amending Decision no.04/48 on appointing the Board Members of the “Drini i Bardhë” Irrigation Company;2.6. Decision no.07/61, for amending Decision no.05/48 on appointing Kosovo Railway Board Members;2.7. Decision no.08/61, for amending Decision no.06/48 on appointing “Ibër-Lepenc” Hydro-System Board Members;2.8. Decision no.09/61, for amending Decision no.11/48 on appointing “Dukagjini” Irrigation Company Board Members;2.9. Decision no.10/61, for amending Decision no.12/48 on appointing “Hidrodrini” Regional Water Supply Company Board Members;2.10. Decision no.11/61, for amending Decision no.14/48 on appointing “Hidroregjioni Jugor” Regional Water Supply Company Board Members;2.11. Decision no.12/61, for amending the Decision no.17/48 on appointing “Radoniqi” Regional Water Supply Company Board Members;2.12. Decision no.13/61, the Draft Law on Amending Law no.2003/15 on Kosovo Welfare Scheme;2.13. Decision no.14/61, Draft Law on Salaries of Civil Servants was approved with changes;2.14. Decision no.15/61, Draft Law on Civil Service of the Republic of Kosovo was approved with changes;2.15. Decision no.16/61, Draft Law on Declaration of Origin and Control of Property was approved;

SUMMARY

GAP Monitor is a monthly publication of GAP Institute for Advanced Studies. This issue has been prepared by:

Agron Demi, [email protected]; Rudina Heroi, [email protected];Shemsedin Aliu, [email protected]; and Kreshnik Berisha, [email protected].

GAP Institute is a Kosovar Think Tank that works in bridging the gap between Kosovo citizens and governance toward advancing the Kosovar society.

Rr. Nëna Terezë 41/29, 10000 Prishtinë, Kosovë │ +381 38 224 [email protected] │ www.gapinstitute.org

2.16. Decision no.17/61, Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing Law no.02/L-133 on Conflict of Interest Prevention in Exercising a Public Function;2.17. Decision no.18/61, Draft Law on Prishtina City was approved;2.18. Decision no.19/61, Administrative Directive on Circular Seal was approved;2.19. Decision no.20/61, Progress Report regarding the program for the implementation of the Kosovo Energy Strategy for the period 2006-2008 was approved;2.20. Decision no.21/61, Regulation on Foreign Services was approved;2.21. Decision no.22/61, Government of Kosovo allocates €7,000 for Foniqi family, from Karaqeva e Poshtme – Kamenica Municipality, as a solidarity sign for the death of their son Erion Foniqi;2.22. Decision no.23/61, Government of Kosovo supports the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo no.03-P-098/k conclusions, dated April 21, 2009, and recommendations of the Selected Committee for appointing Board members of the Pension Trust Fund of the Republic of Kosovo;2.23. Decision no.24/61, 2009-2011 Anti-Corruption Strategy was approved;2.24. Decision no.25/61, Draft Law on Anti Corruption was approved; 2.25. Decision no.26/61, Draft Law on the Government was approved with changes;2.26. Decision no.27/61, for establishing the Working Group for Drafting Government Organization and Structuring Regulation;

3. Decisions from the 62nd meeting of the Government of Kosovo, held on April 29, 2009:

3.1. Decision no.02/62, the 2009-2011 National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities in the Republic of Kosovo was approved;3.2. Decision no.03/62, the procedure for drafting the National Strategy against Violence in Family and Action Plan is initiated;3.3. Decision no.04/62, Government of Kosovo allocates €30,000 for erecting statue of war martyr Adrian Krasniqi in Peja Municipality;3.4. Decision no.05/62, Budget for Kosovo Intelligence Agency is approved as requested from the agency and approved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance;3.5. Decision no.06/62, Request of the Food Safety and Veterinary Agency for amending the Administrative Directive 18/2005 in line with Law on Food no.03/L-016 was approved;3.6. Decision no.07/62, the 2010-2012 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework was approved;3.7. Decision no.08/62, the Government of Kosovo allocated €4,150 for the 10th anniversary of Serbian massacre in Dubrava Prison;3.8. Decision no.09/62, the Government of Kosovo allocated €39,736 for organizing the International Music Festival entitled “Freedom Festival”, to be organized on June 12 and June 13, 2009;3.9. Decision no.10/62, the Government of Kosovo allocated €120,000 for purchasing emergency therapy against the epidemic Swine Flue – “Tamiflu”;3.10. Decision no.11/62, Draft Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on Fields no.2003/3.