Prishtina, 13 December, 2023
Dear Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Dear citizens,
Today is the 178th meeting in a row, the penultimate one for this year. This will be the meeting with the most decisions so far and the longest in these 33 months of governance.
Governance requires both commitment and energy. Dedication is prudence, while energy is essentially youthful. And as a new government, of a new country, with a young population, we are committed to youth.
On Monday, we announced the news that Kosovo became a member of the International Organization European Youth Card Association – EYCA. The card, which will be available to all young people under the age of 30 regardless of gender, ethnicity, ability or economic status, will give them access to over 60,000 discounts and benefits in transport, accommodation, education, culture, sports, services and products anywhere in Europe. This becomes even more valuable now that January 1st visa liberalization is less than three weeks away. So from next year, equipped with a card, our young people in Kosovo will have equal opportunities and benefits when they travel to Europe.
Before that, early on in our government, we made public higher education free, because we believe that it is a right that belongs to you, and not a service for which they have to pay. For students in three academic years, in addition to regular scholarships for high average grades, we distributed about five thousand other scholarships for studies in the country and abroad.
We are connecting professional education with the labor market through dual education. This year we have 12 profiles, which are offered in 21 schools, in 14 municipalities of Kosovo. So we are preparing our young people in time for the needs of the market by investing today for their employment tomorrow.
But, of course, we are concerned with the results of the PISA test for our country, which showed structural and chronic defects of the education system that extend long into the past of our society and will not be able to be fixed either immediately or quickly. The PISA test is showing that in relatively early childhood something is going wrong. The government is committed to good working, teaching and learning conditions. Meanwhile, teachers must take care to motivate, inspire and guarantee that students are learning and knowing.
With the Kosovo Generation Unlimited program, this program of the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers, in cooperation with the UNICEF Office in Kosovo, and the CSR network, we are offering practical opportunities for young people, for 10 thousand young men and women up to end of 2024.
And for those who are already in the labor market, we have the “SuperPuna” employment platform. About 8,500 young men and women aged 18-25 have been employed through it in these nine months.
For more space for creativity and innovation for young people and new companies, we supported the Innovation and Training Park (ITP) in Prizren with 8 million euros. We also established the center for digital excellence, within which a laboratory for 3D printing and scanning, the data center of the Kosovo Academic and Research Network (KREN), as well as classrooms equipped for training in the field of Technology, Information and Communication. Meanwhile, with the Digital Technology Park that we inaugurated in Bernica, we further increased the opportunities and spaces for innovation.
Through enrichment programs in public schools, we extended art, sports and volunteering to the new generations in the municipalities of Pristina, Gjilan, Peja, Mitrovica, Prizren, Ferizaj, Kamenica, and Skenderaj.
For non-governmental organizations, this year alone we allocated 15 million euros for direct support in culture, cultural heritage, youth and sports, where young people are the primary beneficiaries in each supported project.
Similarly, through the World Bank’s “Youth Municipalities” program, in addition to granting grants, project management and soft skills training was organized for more than 1,500 young people.
So investment in education, employment, and youth training, with the commitment and energy of a government for youth.
And our government cares for all generations, and especially for those who need it most. I am pleased that today we will adopt a decision which fulfills one of our next promises. It is about subsidizing all children based on family income. I believe they remember the promise that every year, each child will benefit from 50, 100, or 150 euros, depending on the parents’ income.
This year, we have decided that all children, without distinction, will benefit from the scheme, and the amount of the benefit will be 100 euros. However, we plan to make this scheme even more sophisticated by starting the implementation of the declaration of annual income by all beneficiary parents, so that there is also a difference in support; for those with less income, naturally benefit more.
Since this end of the year, we have not forgotten our pensioners either, we will also take care of another decision at this meeting. Therefore, for all pensioners, at the end of this year in order to ease the cost of living, for these vulnerable categories we will approve a one-time supplement of 100 euros, in addition to the regular monthly pension they receive.
Among other decisions, today we also have the decision to allocate the additional budget for the Kosovo Security Force in the amount of 40 million euros, and with this allocation, the total amount of the budget allocated for defense this year exceeds the level of 200 million euros, or over 2% of the Gross Domestic Product, this criterion for NATO member states.
Reaching this level for the first time in the new history of our army shows how the Government is committed to achieving our common goal of becoming a member state in the Partnership for Peace, towards NATO membership.
So, we are a government of everyone, for everyone. Thank you, we are now continuing with the previous points for the long order of today’s meeting.
Last modified: December 13, 2023