Pristina, 31 October 2025 – The Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) contests and opposes the adoption of decisions by the caretaker Government. These decisions were approved by a composition of the Government which, according to the Supreme Court, is in incompatibility with the Constitution and the Law. Moreover, the decisions adopted in the period preceding the second round of local elections and likely also ahead of potential early parliamentary elections, are considered by KLI to be electoral in nature.
KLI reiterates that it is not opposed, under any circumstances, to increasing salaries, pensions, or allowances for specific categories. On the contrary, at a time when the country faces high inflation, the issue of social justice deserves enhanced institutional attention. However, such measures must be undertaken in full compliance with the Constitution and the Law, and not in an electoral context.
In a period of economic hardship and general public frustration, it becomes easy to justify any action that appears to bring immediate benefit, even when it disregards laws and procedures. However, laws and procedures exist precisely to protect citizens from the abuse of power. When they are violated for political purposes, we may appear to gain something today, but tomorrow we lose security, justice, and equality before the law. Therefore, the protection of due process is the protection of the law, institutions, and the interests of the citizens themselves.
According to the ruling of the Supreme Court, members of the Government who have been certified as Members of the Assembly have thereby lost their mandate as members of the Government, due to the incompatibility of simultaneously holding the two positions that of a Government member and that of an MA in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. In other words, all members of the Government who have been certified as MAs are no longer members of the Government and therefore lack any competence to make decisions. For this reason, they have usurped governmental offices, and consequently, all decisions taken in the absence of competence are unlawful.
At its Friday meeting, the caretaker Government of the Republic of Kosovo first approved the Draft Law on Budget Allocations for 2025 (the Budget). This decision is in contradiction with the Law on the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, a law adopted by this very Government and approved by the Assembly when it held the majority.
Article 31 of the Law on the Government sets forth the limitations of a caretaker Government. Among these limitations is the approval of draft laws. Alongside these limitations, the same article also provides for two (2) exceptional rights, one of which concerns the approval of the budget. However, according to the wording of this article, these two (2) exceptional rights belong only to a resigning Government, not to a Government whose mandate has expired. Article 30.2 clearly defines what constitutes a resigning Government.
Furthermore, paragraph 5 of Article 31 of this Law specifies that “The limitations set out in this article also apply to the Government in the situation referred to in Article 28, paragraph 1, subparagraph 1.1 of this Law, until the election of a new Government,” referring to a Government whose mandate has expired. The wording of this article emphasizes that, with regard to a Government whose mandate has expired, only the restrictions provided in this article apply, and not the other exceptional rights.
From a conceptual standpoint, this caretaker Government is not a Government of the current legislature, but of the previous one. Since this Assembly, or this legislature, has not elected this Government, it cannot allocate a budget to it. For this reason, the Assembly should refuse to review the proposed Budget.
However, the illegality does not end there.
During the budget vote, it was also decided to increase the work experience supplement from 0.25% to 0.5%. It should be noted that in the past, this supplement stood at 0.5%. The Law on Public Sector Salaries, adopted by this Government, had reduced it to 0.25%. For this reason, the Constitutional Court found a violation and ordered the Assembly to make the necessary amendments to the Law on Public Sector Salaries by 1 August 2024. This Government and the previous Assembly failed to comply with the deadline set by the Constitutional Court, thereby disregarding its judgment and failing to amend the Law. As a result, the courts are now flooded with cases filed by citizens seeking the enforcement of their rights.
Nevertheless, at the Friday meeting, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo decided to include this change in the budget, despite the fact that such a change must be made through the Law on Public Sector Salaries and in accordance with the judgment of the Constitutional Court. Thus, even in this case, we are dealing with a violation of the Constitution and the Law.
The same applies to the issue of the thirteenth salary. This matter cannot be regulated by a government decision, but rather requires systematic amendments to fundamental laws. Addressing this issue through a government decision renders it legally void. Moreover, such a decision should have been preceded by a comprehensive economic analysis, assessing its potential implications. This should also be examined through the lens of social justice, as high-ranking officials earning several thousand euros cannot be equated with low-income public servants. Under this decision, both categories would receive the same thirteenth salary. Furthermore, the analysis should have also included the potential inclusion of the private sector in such a measure. For these reasons, apart from being unlawful, this decision is also conceptually flawed and risks violating the right to equal treatment.
Regarding the decision to increase the minimum wage, Minister Hekuran Murati’s claim that the decision was taken in the absence of a proposal from the Economic and Social Council is factually incorrect. The Ministry of Finance, Labour and Transfers has not yet operationalized this Council, and therefore, such a proposal could not have been made.
Other government decisions, such as those concerning increases in pensions and child benefits, adopted on the eve of the second round of local elections and amid announcements of upcoming national elections, are clearly electoral in nature. Acting Prime Minister Kurti himself had previously declared that he would not raise salaries ahead of election campaigns, unlike previous governments.
Taking such actions without legal competence, according to the judgment of the Supreme Court, constitutes the criminal offense of abuse of official position or authority, under Article 414 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo (CCRK).
Article 414 of the CCRK provides that: “An official person who, by abusing his official duty or authority, exceeds his competences or fails to fulfil his official duties with the intent to obtain any benefit for himself or another person, or to cause damage to another person, or to violate the rights of another person, shall be punished by imprisonment of one (1) to eight (8) years.” In this context, by acting as a public official who exploits his position and, in accordance with the standard established by the Supreme Court, exceeds his competences, the electoral benefits resulting from these decisions fall within the notion of ‘any benefit for oneself,’ thereby fulfilling the elements of the criminal offense under this article.
For this reason, criminal responsibility should be addressed by the Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo.