Kosovo parliament

Taulant Osmani, a journalist who was following developments in the Kosovo parliament related to the border deal with Montenegro, was forced to leave the building by a police officer in charge of security in parliament on Thursday.

Kosovo MPs have again postoned a decision on whether or not to ratify a vexed border demarcation agreement with Montenegro, set for Thursday.

The vote failed as a result of the decision of the government to turn the vote into a package, by including two additional documents.

The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, on Friday, issued a joint statement with the President of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic, about the controversial issue of marking the border, saying the two states had agreed to work together on identifying points of dispute.

Gazeta Express has learned that the visit of Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in Pristina is expected to produce an accord which will open the way for Kosovo to ratify the disputed Agreement on demarcation between the two countries. Montenegro has already ratified the deal and is refusing renegotiation of the Agreement reached in 2015.

The Basic Court in Pristina found four Vetevendosje activists, including an MP, guilty on Friday of firing an explosive device at the Kosovo parliament building on August 4, 2016.

Kosovo's government is considering taking the issue of border demarcation with Montenegro to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, if Montenegro continues to refuse to review the agreement, which its parliament already ratified.

Following a crunch meeting with Isa Mustafa, acting Prime Minister and leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, Kosovo New Alliance chief Behgjet Pacolli announced that his party's alliance with the LDK was now over.

"We have concluded all the contractual obligations we have had with LDK. Our ways now are parted," Pacolli told journalists.

The Kosovo Parliament again could not get a quorum to elect a new chairman after the former Prime Minister's coalition, Ramush Haradinaj, said they had insufficient support for their candidate. Reports Sega. 

Democratic Party Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hodja has requested an additional two weeks to secure the necessary votes.

Srpska Lista (Serbian List), the main coalition representing the Serb community in Kosovo, said that it will back the candidate for speaker proposed by the PAN coalition, led by the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, at the constitutive session of the parliament on Thursday.

Photo: Reuters (2012)

A specific feature of the new Kosovo parliament is that party leaders have made sure to also bring in their family members.