The Assembly of Kosovo had a poor performance in legislation during the year 2021. This is the opinion of experts who say that the eighth legislature was inefficient even in supervising the implementation of various laws and strategies. The legislature considered that it also failed in appointing institutional boards and agencies. In fact, last year, the Constitutional Court found that the Assembly took an unconstitutional decision, when it simultaneously dismissed five members of the Independent Supervisory Council for the Civil Service of Kosovo. Meanwhile, in nine months of operation, the Assembly approved 36 laws, while another 79 draft laws are in the process from the legislative agenda of the Government that had planned to approve about 190 draft laws in 2021.

The monitor of the work of the Assembly, Yll Zeka from the Kosovo Institute for Justice, tells KosovaPress that the people's elected officials in 2021 have not managed to fulfill their duties.

He points out, as he says, the bad shadow cast on the work of the Assembly by the Constitution's decision to dismiss the board of the Independent Supervisory Council for the Civil Service of Kosovo (KPMShCK).

"It is pointless for the Government to send laws to the Assembly when it fails to fulfill its work and approve these draft laws. It is known that the legislative agenda is only one of the tasks of the Assembly, we have many other tasks that the Assembly has and could not achieve during this calendar year. [...] In addition to the laws, the Assembly has been ineffective in supervising the implementation of various laws and strategies which have totally failed to fulfill this task. Then we had a large number of boards that failed to be appointed, or if they were proposed by the functional commissions, they failed to receive the necessary votes to become functional. [...] This Council (Independent Supervisory Board for Civil Service of Kosovo) was dismissed and then the Constitutional Court found that this type of dismissal was unconstitutional. This gives a bad shadow to the work of the Assembly, where the Assembly together with the president should supervise the implementation of the Constitution and not be violators of the Constitution themselves", he says.

The bill for the weak performance of the Assembly, the opposition MP from the ranks of the PDK, Hajdar Beqa, addresses the ruling party, the Vetëvendosje Movement.

He tells KosovaPress that the government had a populist legislative agenda and no dynamic agenda.

"We do not consider that the majority was efficient in fulfilling the legislative agenda. We have seen that there was no dynamic in its fulfillment. It was more of a populist agenda than a realistic one, since we know the procedure to pass a law takes at least three months, at least with the involvement of other actors from the first reading to the second. [...] This government has been more populist and its legislative strategy has been more of a campaign than a type of government", he emphasizes.

But the Vetëvendosje Movement expressed otherwise. The deputy, at the same time chairman of the Committee for Legislation, Adnan Rrustemi, tells KosovaPress that the legislature has been efficient during 2021.

However, he says that the year was also busy with local elections that had an impact on the holding of plenary sessions.

"I think that the legislature has been very efficient, of course in a year also busy with local elections. We must bear in mind that there was an impact on the holding of sessions, but in general terms an ambitious legislative plan and a consolidated majority in terms of the number of deputies, but always within the time limits. Thus, I think we had a high efficiency, but it could have been higher and it will be higher next year", he says.

The Assembly of Kosovo was constituted on March 22 and in total during 2021 it held 19 plenary sessions.