Coalition government takes power in Kosovo to end four-month impasse

Kosovo's parliament has approved a new government four months after elections, ending a political impasse that paralysed domestic reforms and left the future of western-backed talks with Serbia in limbo.

Sixty-six deputies in the 120-seat parliament voted in favour of a cabinet led by long-time opposition leader Albin Kurti, and dominated by his Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).

The left-leaning Vetevendosje won 29 seats in the October 6th elections, just one more than the centre-right LDK, in a result that those parties said showed voters’ desire for reform and their frustration with successive governments that were dominated by veterans of Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war with Belgrade.

After months of wrangling over cabinet posts, Vetevendosje and the LDK signed a coalition deal on Sunday and secured support from several parties representing ethnic minorities, which will give the government a slim majority.

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‘New chapter’

The two main parties will each run six ministries and members of the minority parties will take over the remaining three ministries. Five ministers will be women, more than in any previous Kosovo government.

“Today is a new chapter for the Republic of Kosovo, for the life of the Kosovar people, as well as for my own political activities,” the Prishtina Insight news outlet quoted Mr Kurti as saying before Monday’s parliamentary session.

“It has been 23 years that I have been in opposition, now I have finally been given the chance, and the responsibility, to serve the people of Kosovo as never before.”

Both main ruling parties say they want to cut red tape and corruption to boost investment and employment in Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 after nine years of post-war administration by the United Nations.

Russian support

More than 110 countries, including Ireland, have recognised Kosovo's independence. Serbia, backed by its major ally Russia, refuses to accept its sovereignty, however, and Belgrade retains strong influence in largely Serb-inhabited northern Kosovo.

The EU has told Belgrade and Pristina that they must establish normal relations to have any hope of joining the bloc, but talks broke down in November 2018 when Kosovo imposed 100 per cent tariffs on imports from Serbia in response to its lobbying against the mostly ethnic Albanian state’s independence.

Mr Kurti’s government is likely to face strong EU and US pressure to lift the tariffs and facilitate the swift resumption of negotiations with Serbia.

The two main coalition parties made clear, however, that they would not support any final agreement that involved an exchange of territory between Kosovo and Serbia or any alteration of their current borders.

German budget carrier Eurowings announced plans last month to relaunch passenger flights between Pristina and Belgrade, but analysts say they are unlikely to start until the tariffs are dropped.