Prishtina, 04.08. 2020 – The Government of Kosovo in its meeting held on Tuesday, 3 August 2020, has dismissed the temporary boards of four public enterprises: Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), RWC “Prishtina”, Central Public Enterprise HPE “Iber-Lepenc” and RWC “Hidroregjioni Jugor”.

 

The dismissal of the boards of these enterprises has come as a result of non-compliance with the recommendation and request by the shareholder, the Government of Kosovo, which has exclusive competence to exercise shareholder rights in Central Publicly Owned Enterprises, based on Law No. 03 / L- 087 on Publicly Owned Enterprises and the Law on Commercial Companies.

 

The Ministry of Economy and Environment, which has the responsibility of representing the shareholder in these public enterprises, has within it the Unit for Policy and Monitoring of Public Enterprises. This unit has sent a recommendation and request to Minister Blerim Kuçi for the suspension of recruitment procedures for senior positions in public enterprises. The reason for the request for suspension was to wait until the start of the implementation of the agreement signed with the British Embassy, for assistance in the meritorious selection of senior and leading positions in Central Public Enterprises and Government Agencies.

 

Also, since the temporary boards are appointed, they have a short term (6 months) and are not selected through competition, they cannot fit to the long-term objectives of the enterprise by recruiting regular long-term management positions in public enterprises where they operate, as it was attempted to be done.

 

Following this recommendation and request, Minister Kuçi immediately sent a request to the Central Public Enterprises to temporarily suspend these recruitment procedures, until the beginning of the implementation of the agreement with the British Embassy.

 

This request of the minister was totally ignored in the implementation, and not even just once. The four temporary boards of public enterprises: Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), RWC “Prishtina”, Central Public Enterprise HPE “Ibër-Lepenc” and RWC “Hidroregjioni Jugor”, which have already been dismissed by the Government of Kosovo, despite the request of Minister Blerim Kuçi, they have continued the procedures for recruiting senior officials.

 

At this point, due to the non-suspension of procedures at the request of the shareholder, there has been the dismissal of these temporary boards and the replacement with new temporary board members of the four central public enterprises.

 

The Ministry of Economy and Environment is committed to implementing agreements with non-governmental organizations and embassies, so that leadership positions in public enterprises and the boards of these enterprises are professional and meritorious.

 

Minister Blerim Kuçi invites all non-governmental organizations, international organizations, embassies and the media to supervise the selection of regular boards and management positions.