New government of provisional Pristina institutions elected, Kurti remains PM, one Serb among ministers

Photo: Tanjug/AP

The assembly of the provisional Pristina institutions last night elected a new government, which will be led by Albin Kurti, the president of the Self-Determination party, who until now served as outgoing prime minister.

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66 deputies voted for the new government, 49 were against, while nobody abstained.

The new government of the provisional institutions includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Gljauk Konjufca, Minister of Defense Ejup Maqedonci, Minister of the Interior Xhelal Svecla, the Minister of Justice Donika Gervala.

Minister of Education is Hajrulla Ceku, Minister of Local Self-Government is Elbert Krasniqi, while Minister for Communities and Return is Nenad Rasic.

Representative of the Serb List Igor Simic announced during the discussion that this party will not support the new government and pointed out that Kurti's keynote address did not mention Serbs at all.

Simic stressed that not even the rights guaranteed by the (Pristina) constitution are in fact guaranteed to the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

He also criticized the proposal to make Nenad Rasic a minister, pointing out that Rasic (a Serb) won his seat in the assembly in polling stations where no Serbs voted, and that he cannot represent Serbs.

Presenting the composition of the new government, Kurti said that over the next four years, Pristina will invest one billion euros in defense, as well as increase the number of members of the so-called KSF, build an ammunition factory and manufacture combat drones.

He repeated his accusations against Belgrade because of alleged "attacks and provocations" and added that his government will advocate for normalization of relations with Belgrade through dialogue based on the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex, but that normalization of relations implies "bilateral relations".

Kurti began his speech by criticizing the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor's Office, located in The Hague, for seeking 45 years in prison for each of the four former leaders of the so-called KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army"), who are on trial for war crimes.

Representatives of all Albanian parties also expressed their support for the four defendants.

Earlier in the evening, a constitutive session of the assembly was held, where Albulena Haxhiu from the Self-Determination was elected as president of the assembly, while Slavko Simic from the Serb List is among the five vice-presidents.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)