Kosovo’s New PM Kurti Unveils Cabinet and Main Guidelines of His Governance

Kosovo’s new parliament has elected Albin Kurti as the new prime minister after his leftist-nationalist Vetevendosje (Self-Determination Movement) party won the most votes in snap elections last month.
The newly elected parliament, meeting for the first time on March 22, backed Kurti’s nomination and his proposed government 67-30.
Vetevendosje, which has 58 of parliament’s 120 seats following the February 14 elections, needed the support of non-Serb minority parties to form a new government. Kosovo’s Serb minority has 10 seats in parliament and 10 other seats belong to other minorities.
Earlier in the day, Glauk Konjufca of Vetevendosje was elected speaker of the new legislature with 69 votes.
Saranda Bogujevci, Bedri Hamza, Kujtim Shala, Slavko Simic, and Bekim Arifi were elected deputy speakers.
Kurti’s cabinet consists of 15 ministers, including five women. Four cabinet members are from parties representing the country’s minorities, including one from Srpska Lista (Serb List), the main party representing the ethnic Serb community, which according to the constitution has a guaranteed place in the government.
The new government will have to deal with a troubled economy and frayed relations with Serbia.
Addressing lawmakers ahead of the vote, Kurti cited the coronavirus pandemic as Kosovo’s main challenge, and said that his cabinet would implement “a plan to bring COVID-19 under control with measures that reduce the number of new cases and lead to the elimination of deaths.”
He also vowed to reform the justice and education systems and said he wanted the country’s economy to be more focused on manufacturing and exports, “an economy without monopolies, with public enterprises that function well and operate successfully.”