Prime Minister Kurti’s address at the 180th meeting of the Government

We are in the last week of 2023. This is the last meeting of our Government for this year. A total of 62 meetings have been held today in 2023. In this room and through electronic voting, 525 decisions have been approved, not including the decisions that are on the agenda today. Together we gave consent for 63 appointments; support for 16 concept documents; the approval of 66 draft laws and 5 legislative initiatives; approval for 22 draft regulations and 7 administrative instructions; as well as the vote for 346 other decisions.

For each of them, we had the government program as a guide. The final beneficiary has always been the citizen. The aim has always been the development of the country and the strengthening of the state.

At the beginning of the year, we shared the allowances for health staff and public sector workers. At the end of the year, two weeks ago, we distributed allowances for children under the age of 16 and all pensioners. Among these, we made the decision to pay 590 self-financed specialists, and allocated funds to subsidize all employers in the private sector who have increased wages for their workers.

We have supported businesses throughout the year, especially manufacturing and processing ones, and especially for access to finance, but not only. As for the first time we adopted the Strategy for Industrial Development and Business Support 2030.

When we faced the energy crisis, from here we allocated the necessary means for subsidizing electricity, for subsidizing savings and efficient equipment. We have approved the Program for the Protection of Vulnerable Electricity Consumers, which will benefit all families with an average monthly income of less than 150 euros per family member. For families with social assistance, on the eve of the coming winter, we distributed one-time support for the purchase of fuel for heating, from which more than 20 thousand families have benefited.

With the expropriation decisions, we enabled the start of works on the national road, Pristina-Podujevo; we secured the site for the construction of the Solar Park for the production of electricity with a capacity of 100 M; we created the space for the reconfiguration and renovation of the Adem Jashari stadium in Mitrovica; we gave the green light to the expansion of the National Judo Center in Peja, while for the needs of the Ministry of Defense we gave the plot of the “Damper” unit in Therandë, meanwhile the workers of the former “Balkani” factory received the compensation they were entitled to for years.

On the 25th anniversary of the KLA Epic, we approved the conditions for announcing the procurement procedure for the “Adem Jashari” Memorial Complex Project in Prekaz. For a fair and proper representation of the heroic history, the sacrifice of the unparalleled contribution of the Jashari Family for liberation.

On the eve of marking the Day of Persons Violently Disappeared during the war in Kosovo, we initiated the accession of the Republic of Kosovo to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), to finally join in the month of July.

After more than two decades, the reconstruction and renovation of houses in the north of the country damaged during 1998-99 has started, because here in Pristina we were determined that this should be done.

This year, for the first time, we allocated a special fund, worth three million euros, for non-majority communities, with which 259 grants were financed for farmers, start-ups and NGOs, with the aim of promoting employment in these communities. And, in the coming year, the Ministry for Communities and Return, which this year has done more than all the previous years combined, will be the ministry with the biggest increase in the budget. But of course this is after the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, which due to the organization of the 2030 Mediterranean Games has a larger budget allocation.

We also took care of our compatriots in Presheva, Medvegja and Bujanoc. This year, we allocated budget funds to support the Albanian National Council and their representatives to advocate in the major decision-making centers. In addition, we allocated a quarter of a million euros to equip Albanian primary school students in the municipalities of Preshevë, Medvegë and Bujanoc with textbooks in the Albanian language.

We approved one of the most important draft laws in the field of health. With the law on the Price of Medicinal Products, with the new law that has already been voted in the Assembly, we will have necessary drugs at affordable costs for the citizens and institutions of the Republic.

We gave our consent to another important Bill, now the Law on General Elections in the Republic of Kosovo, which, among other things, enables voting by emigrants in the spaces of embassies and consulates of our Republic. With the vote in the Government, and then the majority vote in the Assembly, we stayed true to our word.

However, with the completion and amendment of the Law on State-Funded Pension Schemes, we added the Partial Contributory Pension scheme for pensioners who were excluded from work during the 90s as a result of violent measures.

And because our commitment to reforming the justice system is high and our determination is unwavering despite the obstacles and delays, once again we approved the Draft Law for the Prosecutorial Council. After the first law was overturned by the Constitutional Court.

In 2023, more than ever before since independence, the importance of the security of the citizens and the defense of the Republic has become clear, especially in the face of an aggressive Serbia. In this regard, we also approved the Defense Strategy of the Republic of Kosovo, for the protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity, the modernization of military capacities and the advancement of cooperation with NATO. While we made the army stronger because we allocated the highest budget ever, over 200 million euros in 12 months or over 2% of the Gross Domestic Product according to the criteria of NATO member states.

Finally, I want to thank each of you and each of the members of your cabinets, esteemed colleagues and your teams, that is, for the daily work, for the proposal-decisions of each week and your commitment in these 12 months. The work continues with the agenda today, in which we have 39 items in front of us.

But before that, let me add something about Serbia’s decision to accept the official license plates of the Republic of Kosovo for cars. Although it serves the free and easy movement between the two states, I want to emphasize that this decision is initially coming after more than 10 years of non-implementation of previous agreements; Serbia’s use of the license plate issue for two years to tense the security situation in the north of our country; and more recently as an effort to reduce criticism from the international community on Serbia following the irregularities and fraud in the December elections there.

So, the license plates in Kosovo in September 2021 were used to threaten Kosovo through Mig29 planes raised in the sky around the border and attempting destabilization in the north of the country, especially through 16 barricades that were erected on the streets of four northern municipalities for three weeks row in December last year. And in December this year, that is, in the month we are in, they are being used to reduce the pressure from the democratic West, the European Union and the United States of America, on Serbia for the irregular and undemocratic elections, to cover the official rejection of the Brussels Basic Agreement that has made the letter of the Prime Minister of Serbia Brnabic to the Council of the EU on December 13, and to mask their failure in Banjska on September 24. This is how this action of Serbia should be read, that more than constructiveness and a step towards normalization on the basis of the letter and spirit of the Basic Agreement, it is another maneuver, not for the sake of the Serbian state, certainly not for that of Kosovo, but for the sake of power in Belgrade.

On the other hand, throughout this time, our attitude regarding the issue of license plates has been based on the principle of reciprocity.

We will continue to be principled and constructive. We will take our equivalent decision as a matter of mutual interstate relations as soon as our Border Police documents and proves that Serbia is implementing its decision fully and without obstacles. We believe that this approach is fair as well as reasonable.

Thank you.