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On the eve of elections/ The acting government of Kosovo allocates money for several categories

2026-05-22 10:35:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

On the eve of elections/ The acting government of Kosovo allocates money for

The acting government of Kosovo has decided to allocate 100 euros to several categories and increase maternity allowances, just days before new parliamentary elections. The decision has been criticized by civil society and opposition party figures, who have called it "vote buying."

Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, presented the Inflation Package 2.0, which he said was prevented from being approved earlier by the Assembly - now dissolved - due to "blockage by the opposition bloc".

The package was said to amount to 200 million euros, while Kurti did not reveal whether what was approved today has the same value.

Kurti said the package includes one-time support of 100 euros for pensioners, children, private sector workers and active students.

Pensioners and children will be able to receive this money starting next week, while the application procedure for other categories will also open next week, according to Kurti.

"We are aware that in the absence of the revised budget, which was blocked by the opposition bloc, this package does not address all the problems and needs, but it does ease the burden for every family in our country. Because unlike the opposition bloc, our Government ensures that the hand of the state touches everyone," Kurti said.

Acting Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati, explained that private sector workers who can benefit from 100 euros are those whose salary is lower than 1,000 euros.

At the meeting of the acting executive, held on the morning of May 22, Kurti also announced an increase in allowances for mothers.

He said that he had promised that maternity benefits would be equal to the minimum wage, while accusing the parties that have previously governed of not taking any measures for this category.

"This year, from July the minimum wage will be 500 euros per month. And just like last year, this May we are increasing the allowances for mothers, from 325.9 euros per month to 500 euros per month. In other words, we are not waiting for July, but we are doing it now, from this month," Kurti said.

The executive pays the minimum wage for six months for unemployed mothers, and three months for employed mothers, who also receive a payment according to the Labor Law.

Kurti also announced a program to support women, called Superpuna per za ?ena, which he said provides for payment "for six months of the minimum wage if they return to the labor market."

These decisions come 16 days before the new parliamentary elections are to be held. Similarly, the Kurti government had acted on the eve of the preliminary elections, held in December 2025, when it had allocated 100 euros each to pensioners and students.

But, over the years, executives led by other parties had also taken similar decisions, such as increasing salaries for certain sectors, on the eve of election cycles.

Reactions after the Government's decision

Figures from civil society and opposition parties have reacted to the acting Government's decision to allocate 100 euros to several categories.

The leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, accused Kurti of using "every possible means to stay in power at any cost."

"This is not an inflation package. This is a package of attempted vote buying. A belated attempt to cover up the government's failure with the citizens' own money. An electoral insult to the dignity and real needs of the people of the country, of those who leave them penultimate in Europe," he wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, Artan Behrami, who was an MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo last term, said that the Prosecution "must land" in the executive branch, adding that this is "classic vote buying, it is a direct influence on voters."

Albert Krasniqi from the Democracy Plus organization described it as an attempt "to buy votes".

"The distribution of money from the state treasury in the middle of the electoral process shows the sterility of the ideas of a government that attempts to buy the votes of the citizens of the second poorest country in Europe," he wrote on Facebook.

Political observer Dardan Sejdiu wrote on social media that Kurti "threw all the citizens' hard work into the ground" with this decision.

He said that this decision, made on the eve of the June 7 elections, is not about caring for the citizen.

"This is vote buying with citizen's money," he wrote on Facebook.

Official data from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics shows inflation of 7.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Kosovo closed 2025 with inflation of 3.9 percent.

According to the International Monetary Fund, economic activity in Kosovo has slowed, while inflation has increased over the past year. Headline inflation reached 5.75 percent in January 2026, driven mainly by rising food prices.

Real GDP growth slowed to 3.6 percent in 2025, from 4.6 percent in 2024. /REL