The political clash in Kosovo has deepened further after AAK rejected the invitation from acting President Albulena Haxhiu for a consultative meeting on the process of electing the head of state. In his response, Ardian Gjini not only challenged the political legitimacy of the call, but presented it as part of a calculation to steer the country toward elections amid an institutional deadlock.
Presidency calls meeting on the presidency, AAK sends negative response
Kosovo’s Presidency has confirmed the invitation sent by Albulena Haxhiu to leaders of political parties or their representatives for a consultative meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, at 09:00.
According to the official announcement, the focus of the meeting is related to developments surrounding the presidential election process. But AAK has refused to take part, immediately turning the initiative into a new political confrontation.
Gjini questions Haxhiu’s role
AAK leader Ardian Gjini argued in his response that Haxhiu, as acting President, does not have the mandate to play the role of unifier of the political spectrum.
Along the same lines, he accused Haxhiu and acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti of not genuinely seeking a way out of the institutional crisis, but instead constructing a political scenario with predetermined culprits.
Accusations of delay and political alibis
According to Gjini, the call for the meeting is not aimed at finding a solution, but at creating an alibi for a decision that, according to him, had already been made earlier: sending the country to elections.
He claims that the deadlock is being prolonged until a date that suits the governing majority, and that AAK will not take part in this process in order to lend political legitimacy to such a scheme.
AAK sets political conditions for a way out of the impasse
Gjini said that if there were real will for the votes and the quorum, there are six points proposed by the Alliance.
These include accepting the American gas pipeline project, launching procedures for the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, raising the VAT threshold from 30,000 to 100,000 euros, removing property tax on cultivated land, fully budgeting roads for Gjilan, Peja, Gjakova, Mitrovica and Podujeva, as well as allocating 800 million to 1 billion euros for infrastructure investments in Prishtina.
AAK’s refusal makes it even more difficult to present the meeting called by the Presidency as a consensual effort to unblock the situation.
Instead of political rapprochement, the latest development highlights the deep mistrust between the sides and raises further doubts that the crisis is also being used as ground for electoral calculations.