UNMIK/PR/250
The co-heads of the Department of Public Services briefed the Kosovo Transitional Council today on the public sector in Kosovo, which employs some 46,700 civil servants and manages public services implemented under the Kosovo Consolidated Budget.
The KTC also discussed the security situation and yesterday's incident involving Alliance for the Future of Kosovo leader Ramush Haradinaj, as well as Monday's court ruling in Nis where 143 Kosovo Albanians were sentenced en masse to prison terms of seven to 13 years each. The KTC agreed to issue a statement of protest over the latter development.
Regarding the public sector, more than half of the public servants work in education, with about one fourth in health and one fifth in local administration. Total salary payments paid them for March and April was 24.6 million DMs. The public work force is expected to expand to 62,000 by the end of the year as all 21 departments of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure complete their hiring.
To a question on the hiring policy regarding former public employees, department co-heads Bexhet Brajshori and Peter Schumann said that they work closely with the Central Fiscal Authority on pragmatic ways to maintain budgetary discipline, while taking into account the needs of former and future employees. The Department of Public Services is trying to strike a balance between respect for those who worked in the public sector in previous years, and the need to build a modern administration.
To a question on unpaid pensions, the KTC was told that since former public employees paid into a pension fund located in Belgrade, it is currently impossible for the Kosovo Consolidated Budget to cover such payments. However a social assistance programme is being launched to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable.
The Department is also to provide a breakdown on the proportions of minorities in the public work force, following a question on whether all communities were fairly represented.
Some KTC members raised questions about the Haradinaj incident, during which the former TMK official was stopped at a KFOR checkpoint and then detained temporarily after KFOR soldiers discovered and confiscated two unauthorized weapons. Some KTC members protested the alleged treatment of Haradinaj and disputed KFOR's verson of events. KFOR is to provide the KTC with more details and the results of an investigation into the incident.
Finally it was agreed that future KTC meetings will be covered by closed circuit television so that media can monitor and report on the KTC's weekly meetings.