Does Kosovo Budget 2017 reflect the Recommendations of the European Commission?
23/04/2017
GAP Institute held a press conference today in which it presented an analysis on “Kosovo Budget 2017 and the recommendations of the European Commission”.
Berat Thaqi, policy analyst at GAP Institute, stressed that although there is progress in addressing Budget recommendations based on the EC Report, there are still some areas which have not been addressed sufficiently. The budget for the Judicial Council and the Prosecutorial Council has been increased, however the Special Prosecution (SP) Office, as a key institution in fighting corruption and organized crime, has not been allocated budget to fill the required vacancies. Within the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) there is an improvement in terms of capital investment for the Metrology Agency, however, the budgetary capacities of other departments were not increased, especially of those dealing with accreditation and standardization.
As far as regulators is concerned, the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) and the Kosovo Agency for Energy Efficiency (KAEE) have been allocated insufficient budget. In terms of public administration reform there is no improvement in the increase of the capacities of the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) to monitor this reform. The Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) this year will be financed from the state budget, although the legal deadline for this form of financing has expired. Another problem addressed in the EC Report is the lack of safety at work and lack of labor inspectors. Also, public expenditures in health are among the lowest in the region and the budget allocated for health has never met the real needs so far.
Agron Demi, policy analyst at the GAP Institute, highlighted that one of the problems that are most commonly encountered in the recommendations of the European Commission has to do with the shortage of staff in key departments that deal with the monitoring of policies and implementation of the law. Despite the fact that we have a public administration which is overloaded with employees, the institutions have failed to increase the number of employees within enforcement and and monitoring institutions. One of GAP recommendations is the reassignment of staff among departments and institutions, and not hire additional staff.
Aside from the main findings, the analysis also addressed several recommendations regarding the budgetary capacities. To read the full analysis please click HERE.
