Kosovo parliament rejects Danish prison deal again

The Kosovo Parliament was expected to approve a treaty with Denmark to rent 300 prison places after two years of waiting, but opposition members voted against it, damaging the relationship between the two countries. Kosovo’s Deputy Justice Minister Blerim Sallahu stated on Facebook that the refusal has resulted in a loss of 210 million euros for Kosovo and harmed its ties with Denmark. The rental of the Kosovo prison to accommodate deported convicts would cost Denmark around 1.5 billion Danish kroner over ten years. Kosovo’s parliament requires a two-thirds majority to pass international agreements, and repeated blocking by the opposition has hindered this, demanding new elections. Despite earlier indications from the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate that they were prepared to support certain international treaties, Thursday’s vote failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority for the Danish prison agreement.