Haxhiu: I felt tempers needed to cool before the session was called

Kosovo Assembly Speaker and acting president Albulena Haxhiu said she had faced criticism over the delay in calling the plenary session on the declaration regarding the verdict against former KLA leaders.

On the “Debat Plus” show with Ermal Panduri, Haxhiu said the Assembly and the Government had been challenged before the Constitutional Court and that, for that reason, she had judged it necessary to wait and let the situation calm down.

“There has been criticism directed at me for not calling a plenary session, but the Assembly was contested. There were three or four days of discussions among representatives of parliamentary groups. Today we held the session and we were delayed a little more than an hour until we reached a unifying draft. There were no votes against in the Kosovo Assembly on this,” Haxhiu said.

She considered the adoption of the declaration important, saying that through it the Assembly expressed its will and addressed several demands to Kosovo’s institutions.

“It is a good moment to express the will of the Kosovo Assembly. There are several demands there directed at Kosovo’s institutions; the institutions have been working for several years now. I believe it was important for the Assembly to have a voice in this direction,” she declared.

Haxhiu said the Kosovo Assembly had not previously adopted resolutions or declarations of this nature relating to the war and the Kosovo Liberation Army.

“The Kosovo Assembly has not adopted resolutions or declarations related to defending the war, the people through the Liberation Army. There are several adopted resolutions, declarations,” she said.

Haxhiu also spoke about Albania’s support following the Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ decision, revealing that she had communicated with the Speaker of Albania’s Parliament, Niko Peleshi.

“I am glad that Albania was ready and adopted one a day later. I have been in communication with the Speaker of Parliament, Niko Peleshi. I personally thanked him for the solidarity and support in these difficult days for Kosovo and the families of the persons held in The Hague, who have been unjustly convicted,” Haxhiu said.

She also explained the reasons why she had not called the plenary session earlier.

“There has been constant criticism directed at me for not calling the plenary session. A plenary session is called by 40 deputies through an extraordinary session. Two days after the decision, the Assembly and the Government were contested,” Haxhiu said.

According to her, during that period there had also been a tense political climate, including threatening language toward deputies and ministers.

“The Assembly was contested, and the Government contested too. There were no requests. The Assembly and the Government were before the Constitutional Court and, on the other hand, because of a climate, language used toward deputies, ministers, I therefore judged that the better situation was to let tempers cool. We don’t need threats, hate speech, violence,” Haxhiu declared.