Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
"In certain years, there were increases in public sector salaries with decisions made during election campaigns."
This claim was made by Hekuran Murati, Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers (MFPT), through a status published on his Facebook account on October 12.
What is the truth?
Hibrid.info has researched salary increase decisions during past governments and found that none of them were made during the election campaign, as Minister Murati claims.
Analyze:
Hibrid.info has only addressed the claim in question, since the other claims, after verification by hibrid.info, have proven to be true (see here).
Excerpt from Hekuran Murati's status:
"The myth that previous governments increased salaries for everyone is finally dispelled. While it is true that in certain years there was an increase in salaries in the public sector with decisions made during election campaigns, the data shows that this increase was made at the expense of the private sector. This is clearly seen in 2014, when salaries in the public sector were increased by a government decision during the campaign, but the average in the entire economy, including the public and private sectors, had increased by only 4.4%."
How long is the campaign period?
With the Law on General Elections in the Republic of Kosovo adopted in 2008, “Campaign Period” means a period of thirty (30) days for the election campaign of political entities which ends one (1) day before election day (see here).
Whereas with the new Law, the campaign ends with the opening of polling stations on election day (see here).
Given that Minister Murati specifically mentioned the decision to increase salaries in 2014, claiming that it was taken during the campaign, hibrid.info, using search engines, verified the veracity of this claim.
Hibrid.info has found that on March 11, 2014, the decision to increase salaries for the public sector was signed by Hashim Thaçi, the prime minister at the time (see here and here).
On May 7, 2014, the Kosovo Assembly voted to dissolve the legislature at that time (here), which led to early elections, which were scheduled to be held on June 8, that year, by Atifete Jahjaga, the country's former president (here).
Thaçi had decided to increase salaries even in his first term of office, on January 6, 2011 (here), following the early elections of 2010, held on 12 December (here).
During Isa Mustafa's government, hibrid.info found that the only salary increase was achieved through work experience payments, which began to be implemented after the approval of the 2015 budget (see here and here).
Mustafa also failed to complete his full term as prime minister, as on May 10, 2017, the Kosovo Assembly (here) was dissolved, with the country going to early elections, after the date (June 11, 2017) set by former President Thaçi (here).
While hibrid.info's findings show that Mustafa's successor, Ramush Haradinaj, increased pensions once on February 19, 2019 (here), increased teachers' salaries on January 20, 2019 (here) and approved the Law on Salaries on September 3, 2018, which was voted on in the Assembly on February 2, 2019 (here and here), which was later overturned by the Constitutional Court (here).
Haradinaj resigned from the position of Prime Minister on July 19 of that year, while President Thaçi announced on August 26 the decision that early parliamentary elections would be held on October 6 (see here).
The current government of Kosovo, on April 13, 2022, approved the Law on Increasing the Minimum Wage (here), which was voted on July 13, 2022, and then sent to the Constitutional Court (see here). While on November 23, the Public Sector Wages Law was approved (here), which entered into force in 2023 (here).
The law that provided for the minimum wage to reach the value of 264 euros gross for all employees, in the public and private sectors, was not challenged even by the decision of the Constitutional Court, which ruled in favor of the Government (see here).
On August 16, Vjosa Osmani, the country's president, announced February 9, 2025, as the date of the general elections (see here).
While the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, on August 28 announced the increase in the minimum wage to 350 euros (here) and on October 7th, it decided to increase pensions by 20% (here).
Conclusion:
The statement by the Minister of MFPT, Hekuran Murati, that in past governments, salaries have been increased through campaign-time decisions, is not correct.
Hibrid.info has found that past governments have ended their mandate prematurely and that salary increases were implemented in the last year of the governing mandate, but not during election campaigns.
Based on the methodology of working on the category of truthfulness, Minister Murati's statement that salaries were previously increased during the campaign period, hibrid.info assesses it as a "false statement".
Reasoning:
In the category of truthfulness, those statements that contain statements related to objective facts, the accuracy of which can be determined through objective verification, are evaluated. Statements treated in this category receive the assessment – false statement, half-truth, or even true statement.