The Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) has reacted to the approval in the second reading of the amendments to the Draft Law on public officials. According to the GLPS, this bill allows room for Acting positions to be held for long periods of time, as has been the practice recently. For this, GLPS called for such a draft law to be sent to the Constitutional Court for interpretation.

"GLPS calls on all competent parties to send the approved draft law to the Constitutional Court. This is a necessary step to ensure that it is in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo", says the reaction.

GLPS estimates that in the draft law sent by the Government to the Assembly in June, the term for holding positions with acting duties was two years.

"An amendment has been added to the parliamentary procedure which has been integrated into the law approved yesterday, where the term for holding positions with acting officials has changed from 2 years as originally proposed to 1 year but with the possibility of extension without any time limit under the condition legal if the recruitment procedures have been announced but for objective reasons the position has not been filled. This arrangement allows room for Acting positions to be held for long periods of time as has been the practice in recent times. This negative practice, now also legislated by law, gives the opportunity and encourages the daily politics to keep acting "suitable civil servants" in vacant positions, completely undermining the regular legal mechanism for filling these positions in accordance with the rules and procedures. that guarantee meritocracy", says the GLPS response.

According to GLPS, some of the main issues raised by this organization in June of this year are still valid for the draft law approved yesterday in the Assembly.

"As a reminder, GLPS has determined that this draft law did not follow the Order defined in point 12 of Judgment No. ref.: AGJ 2262/23 of the Constitutional Court issued in September last year. The same excludes from the scope of action some typical institutions which should be part of the scope of this law. The removal of the minimum threshold that at least 2 candidates must meet the conditions for the High Management Level remains worrying, which results in an infringement of competition, as the main pillar of meritocracy", the communiqué states.

Also, GLPS has raised concerns regarding the waiting list, where through this draft law the relevant institution is enabled to accept redundant civil servants in a discretionary manner and without any legal obligation, which may result in mass dismissal from the service civil as a result of the inaction of the institution and the passing of the 9-month deadline defined in paragraph 5 of article 67 of this draft law.