Life in Kosovo discusses about emergency situations
Tonight, Life in Kosovo will broadcast a debate on the emergency situations in our country.
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Every Thursday starting from 20:30, Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, broadcasts the TV debate show "Life in Kosovo", a joint production of BIRN and RTK.
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Life in Kosovo debates Kosovo’s parliament
26 March 2009 During this Life in Kosovo show, viewers had the opportunity to watch a debate on the highest institution in the Republic of Kosovo – parliament.
Is Kosovo’s parliament more like a plaything of the government, or is it a body defending citizens’ interests? Who are the deputies accountable to? Are they representatives of the people or delegates of their political parties? Why is there a delay in appointing the board of RTK, the board of the Pensions Trust and the Ombudsperson? What needs to be done to increase parliament’s efficiency?
To discuss these and other issues, Muhamet Hajrullahu’s guests in the studio were:
Safete Hadergjonaj – deputy head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, parliamentary group
Lulzim Zeneli – head of the Democratic League of Dardania, LDD, parliamentary group
Gjylnaze Syla – from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK;
Valmir Ismaili – from the Kosovo Democratic Institute, KDI
Ramadan Ilazi – from the “Fol ‘08” NGO;
The debate started with a TV report prepared by the BIRN team which was broadcast and shown to the panel.
Talking about the culture of debate and the impolite ways in which MPs sometimes address each other on floor, Safete Hadergjonaj, from the PDK parliamentary group, said that what was shown on the report was routine for the Assembly of Kosovo.
However, she added that the Assembly accomplishes many other tasks that should be used as better examples than those illustrated in the report.
“Being an MP at the Parliament of Kosovo requires a lot of responsibility because whatever an MP does in a session reflects on the everyday lives of citizens,” said Hadergjonaj, adding that it the way he or she reacts to a difficult question is down to an individual’s character.
“Because MPs are public figures, because MPs behaviour is important for building a common culture for the parliament, which in a way is controlled by Parliament’s Code of Conduct,” answered Gjylnaze Syla from AAK about why their behaviour is important. Syla went on to tell of her experience when, according to her, the Prime Minister answered her question with incorrect evidence.
“So in order to illuminate the public opinion on the reality, I wanted to be given the floor from the speaker of the parliament. It had to do with a letter that supposedly the head of AAK sent to the Prime Minister for 5,000 euro to be given to Serbs.
I got a copy of the letter and started telling the truth, but the speaker of the parliament didn’t let me continue,” told Syla, further explaining how she was denied her right to speak because the speaker wanted to protect the coalition and the Prime Minister in particular.
“If we do an analytical evaluation on the sessions of the assembly we would form a negative curve regarding political and debating culture.
We can take Albania and Serbia as examples of bad parliamentarian culture,” said Lulzim Zeneli from the LDD.
Ramadan Ilazi from NGO Fol ‘08 shared his concern about the use of non parliamentarian language. According to him, it would acceptable if the MPs sometimes use this kind of language, but only if they are discussing some very hot topics such as the six-point plan or the constitution.
“We expect them to do what they are appointed to do. They have to respect the constitution which sets the parliament as the highest institution in the country,” added Ilazi.
The debate went on to discuss the inefficiency of the parliament to appoint heads of some of the key institutions.
When it came to discuss these delays, Hadergjonaj said that the work of the parliament cannot be evaluated only from this issue, because there are other fields where, according to her, the parliament has accomplished some very important tasks.
In the course of the show, BIRN also broadcast an exclusive interview with the Speaker of the Parliament, Jakup Krasniqi.
He answered questions on the government’s impact on parliament’s work and parliament’s failure to appoint the board of RTK, the Ombudsperson, etc.
Asked about the European Commission Progress Report for Kosovo, which criticised the work of the Parliament, Krasniqi said he took the remarks in good heart.
“If the progress report didn’t have any bad points, Kosovo would already be a member of the EU,” he said.
He also explained that prior to setting the agenda for plenary sessions, all members of presidency and all the chiefs of all parliamentary caucuses agree to it.
Regarding the interference of the government in parliament, Valmir Ismaili from KDI said that sometimes the government sets the agenda for a session in parliament.
“There is nothing wrong with healthy collaboration between the government, the parliament and the opposition in setting the agenda. However there are cases when the Prime Minister requests a 30 min pause and it gets approved,” added Ismaili.
The debate ended with Ramadan Ilazi’s remarks on how accountable the government should be to parliament.
Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public
Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN.
It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.
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The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.
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