Haxhiu: President's return of the Specialist Chambers law is a veto, Assembly must vote on it

Kosovo Assembly Speaker Albulena Haxhiu said Monday that the Assembly will vote on the decree of President Justina Shiroka-Pula, by which the law on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers was returned for reconsideration. According to Haxhiu, the return of the law must be handled in line with the Constitutional Court ruling and the Assembly's Rules of Procedure.

A veto, not a new reading

In her interpretation, the president's return of the law is a veto, and for that reason lawmakers must vote either for or against it. This puts the law before a new vote in a plenary session.

The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) has asked for the law to return to a third reading. Haxhiu said this request by the opposition party must also be addressed within parliamentary procedures. She did not give a date for the plenary session at which the president's decree will be voted on.

Focus on the appeal

The speaker also stressed that work on the appeal strategy must continue, calling for serious preparation and focus on that process. The law on the Specialist Chambers has been at the center of political debate in Kosovo since the court's verdict in The Hague against former KLA leaders, which sparked protests and initiatives for legal changes.

President Shiroka-Pula had said earlier that Constitutional Court decisions must be implemented. PDK had submitted the amendment to the law on Sept. 21, a few days after the Sept. 16 verdict, and is now asking for it to go back through a full reading procedure.