Kosovo Parties ‘Closer’ to Agreeing Coalition Terms

Kosovo's two main parties, Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje and Isa Mustafa's Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, are close to an agreement on forming a new government, three months after elections were held, Vetevendosje said Wednesday.

After a three-hour meeting, Vetevendosje said in a Facebook post that the two parties had "got closer" to an agreement, without elaborating further, and added that they will meet again on Thursday for a third consecutive day.

After Kurti held a consultative meeting with President Hashim Thaci on Monday, the Vetevendosje leader claimed a proposal for the post of prime minister would be sent in written form.

But Thaci sparked confusion by writing on Facebook that he had given Kurti a 48-hour deadline to propose a new prime minister. Later, on Twitter, he said he had only "hoped" a proposal would be sent in that time.

Thaci changed his tone after Vetevendosje's secretary, Kushtrim Ahmeti, insisted that the President did not mention anything about a deadline in his meeting with Kurti.

Either way, the 48-hour period expired on Wednesday without a nomination for a new PM or a governing coalition agreement between Vetevendosje and the LDK.

Arberie Nagavci, a Vetevendosje MP, said in Pristina on Wednesday that a prime minister would be named soon. "We'll send a formal note with the PM's name to Thaci in the coming days," she said.

She added that Vetevendosje had "resumed talks with the LDK and we expect the agreement to be finalised," but they were meanwhile "waiting to see what the LDK requests are".

On Monday, the LDK's deputy leader, Haki Rugova, told BIRN that both parties should compromise "for an agreement to be achieved", adding that "it cannot be done with one-sided actions, like with the...