Beyond the stubbornness of VV and the blankness of PDK.
Written by: Rron Gjinovci
VV should give up, give up on existing candidates. PDK should give up on the idea of being given a blank check, meaning that they would be free to come up with two candidates at their own discretion. Both sides should give up on their initial positions. If one side insists that the name must necessarily be one of those already on the table, while the other side insists that it should be given the right to bring whoever it wants, then we do not have negotiations, but only two insistences that clash with each other and keep the country in a deadlock. What is the point of talking about state responsibility if no one agrees to move an inch from their position? What is the point of saying that Kosovo needs institutional unity if each side enters the process not to find a solution, but to impose its will?
What should the President be like?
The president should not be a trophy for one side nor a convenience mechanism for the other.
We don't need another figure who sees the presidency as a springboard for his own future political project. We have seen this, we have experienced it, and we know how expensive it is for the country when the highest office of the state is used as an investment for a personal career.
Kosovo today needs a figure with a generally positive reputation, someone whose name does not immediately divide society into political cheerleaders when mentioned. It needs a person without long-term political ambitions, not someone who enters the presidency today with tomorrow's elections, the party after tomorrow, or the bargaining for the next term in office.
We need a man with intellectual formation, culture, knowledge, weight in public appearances and the ability to represent the state with dignity. We don't need a loud voice, we need a respectable figure. We don't need a figure who creates a crisis every time he opens his mouth, we need someone who, with his seriousness, lowers the political temperature.
And yes, it would be good for this person to also have institutional or political experience, because the presidency is not a personal undertaking, but a state function that requires knowledge of institutions, political relationships, and constitutional responsibilities.
The president must also be someone who is emotionally mature, who understands the role of the president, and who has a career, has his own life, and is fulfilled. Because only such a person can properly perform the functions of the President of Kosovo.
Otherwise, presidents are being seduced by the idea that they are key political actors, forgetting that this function, according to the Constitution, is not designed to lead the country's politics. That power is given to the government of the Republic. The president is not a prime minister with another office, nor a daily leader of political battles.
The president must understand the limits of his function, his symbolic weight and his duty to represent the unity of the state. Precisely for this reason, Kosovo needs a president who does not use the position to grow politically, but someone who is already formed, calm, fulfilled and capable of holding the office with moderation, dignity and full awareness of its limits.
Who is the president who meets all these conditions?
Justina Shiroka-Pula. Former minister in one of Hashim Thaçi's governments, former PDK MP, professor of Economics at the University of Prishtina and today president of the Academy of Sciences. She is one of those figures who combine institutional experience with intellectual weight. She comes from a rare generation of Albanian women who were the first to earn a doctorate in Yugoslavia, built a genuine academic career, and remains one of the few professors of her generation who justifies her academic title and academic career with scientific work.
VV can hardly have any strong reservations about it, because it is not a conflictual figure and is known more for its correctness, institutional culture and collaborative energy. PDK, on the other hand, would restore its reputation and for the first time would offer us stability in an institution. So, it is a name that does not humiliate either party, but gives both a dignified way out. And precisely for this reason it is a serious proposal: because it does not come as a candidacy of political ego, but as a promise for the restoration of the institution that in the last two mandates has suffered from the egos and political ambitions of its bearers.
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