Coalition Talks Remain Deadlocked in Kosovo

Albin Kurti, leader of Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), the party that topped the last elections in Kosovo, said on Wednesday that negotiations with the second-placed Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, had failed - and the two parties would therefore go into the constitutive session of parliament on Thursday without an agreement on forming a new government.

Almost three months after Kosovo held elections on October 6, negotiations between the two big parties are stuck mainly over an agreed candidate for the next presidential elections.

So far, the parties have agreed to have five ministries each - but negotiations appear deadlocked over the LDK's demand to select the presidential candidate.

Kurti has said his party would only agree to include the future presidential post in the negotiations if it gets one more ministerial seat in the cabinet, namely the Interior Ministry, which it claims is vital for combating crime and corruption.

But, in a video message, Kurti said his offer had been rejected by the LDK. "It is my moral, political, state and national obligation to declare that we will go into the inaugural session of the legislature without a government agreement," Kurti warned.

His proposal, he said, had contained three main points. Vetevendosje would allow the LDK to appoint the speaker of parliament, while Vetevendosje would choose the first and second deputy speakers, even though, Kurti said, the post of speaker and first deputy speaker by right belonged to "Vetevendosje, as the first party".

After the parties met last week, LDK chief Isa Mustafa said that Vetevendosje could get another ministry, but only if it allowed the LDK to choose the presidential candidate. However, Mustafa changed his mind in a Facebook post,...