The Assembly of Kosovo has just published the financial report on the expenditures of the Assembly for the first three months of 2018. Based on this report, which the Assembly approved in July this year but has now been made public, the expenditures for this three-month compared to the first three months of this legislature (October to December 2017) have increased for EUR 20,933.28 or expressed in percentage of 53%.

For the first three months of 2018 (January-March) of 120 MPs of the Kosovo Assembly, 50 of them have made official trips abroad. In total, for this period the MPS have realized 74 trips abroad which have cost the state budget 60,380.28 €.

Much of the budget was spent on per diems and accommodation: € 21,205.91 per person, respectively € 19,239.9 per accommodation. Meanwhile, € 18,558.47 was spent on travel tickets to the places visited by MPs and € 1,376 for other expenses for which no specific data was provided for what they were spent on.

High expenses were also made by the Assembly for official luncheons. For three months, MPs spent € 14,924.00 for official luncheons. Whereas, € 11,754.51 have been spent on fuel for cars.

The published report has no data on the reasons for visiting MPs abroad and the dates that show the days the MPs stayed on a particular trip. Failure to publish a detailed expenditure report limits us to the assessment of budget management by the Assembly.

KDI considers that the Kosovo Assembly should pay extra attention to the management of state budget and not create unnecessary expenses. Members of the Assembly of Kosovo should be fully engaged in fulfilling the primary functions of the Assembly, representing the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo and guaranteeing the smooth running of the Assembly. Unnecessary expenses by the Assembly will negatively affect the perception of citizens for the work of the Assembly and may create a negative image for MPs and their work.