Kosovo Opposition MPs Block Parliament's Work

Kosovo's parliament on Thursday stopped work shortly after the three opposition parties blocked the speaker's pulpit in parliament making the work of the session impossible.

The three opposition parties, Vetevendosje [Self-Determination Movement], the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and the Initiative for Kosovo, Nisma, demand that the government annul the recent agreement with Serbia, which among other things, opens a way for the establishment of an Association of Serbian Municipalities with wide-ranging powers.

Parliament speaker Kadri Veseli closed the session saying that there were no conditions for work.

MPs from the governing coalition, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, LDK, said the conditions for normal work needed restoring.

"The opposition's stance is worrying," said Arben Gashi, an LDK MP. "Blocking the parliament means blocking the entire state of Kosovo," agreed Adem Grabovci, a PDK MP.

Glauk Konjufca, from Self-determination, said the opposition would continue to block the parliament until Prime Minister Isa Mustafa withdrew the signature from the agreement that he said gives away 30 per cent of Kosovo's territory to Serbia.

"The opposition will be decisive in blocking parliament until Mustafa comes here and withdraws the signature  for the Association [of Serbian municipalities]," Konjufca said.

The opposition parties claim the Association of Serbian Municipalities will have much the same powers as the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, which has threatened to secede from Bosnia.

This is the second session that has been blocked after the first one last week, when opposition MPs hurled eggs at Prime Minister, as he was reporting in parliament...