OSCE Mission promotes enhanced co-ordination between Assembly of Kosovo and executive structures

To improve the quality of the legislative process and effective oversight of the executive, the Assembly of Kosovo and the government should undertake realistic and co-ordinated legislative planning, avoid urgent procedures and respect the role of the opposition, concluded participants of an OSCE Mission conference on relations between the legislative and executive held in Prishtinë/Priština on 27 June 2012.

Conference participants, which included the Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi, Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, and other senior representatives of the government and the Assembly, suggested that the Assembly should start initiating new legislation and the government should closely co-ordinate its priorities and legislative plans with the Assembly, while the procedures for interpellation should be shortened.

“The relationship between the executive and legislative branches is characterized by a certain degree of tension. This is perfectly natural for a democratic model where legislative and executive powers are separated,” said Ambassador Werner Almhofer, the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo.

“Nonetheless, it is the ultimate responsibility of senior officials from both branches to harness this inherent tension and, rather than viewing it as an obstacle, make it work for democratic accountability.”

The Mission will continue to advocate for enhanced co-ordination between the two branches.

OSCE Mission in Kosovo is mandated with human rights protection and promotion and democracy and public safety development. The Mission assists the Assembly of Kosovo in enhancing its legislative and oversight role over the executive.