Avdullah Hoti | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Hoti in 2020 | |
| 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo | |
| In office 3 June 2020 – 22 March 2021 | |
| President | Hashim Thaçi Vjosa Osmani(Acting) |
| Deputy | Besnik Tahiri Driton Selmanaj Albulena Balaj-Halimaj Goran Rakić |
| Preceded by | Albin Kurti |
| Succeeded by | Albin Kurti |
| First Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo | |
| In office 3 February 2020 – 25 March 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Albin Kurti |
| Preceded by | Behgjet Pacolli |
| Succeeded by | Besnik Tahiri |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 8 December 2014 – 2 August 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Isa Mustafa |
| Preceded by | Bedri Hamza |
| Succeeded by | Agim Krasniqi |
| Member of theAssembly of the Republic of Kosovo | |
| Assumed office 2014 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1976-02-04)4 February 1976 (age 49) |
| Political party | Democratic League |
| Spouse | Servete Ukaj Hoti |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Pristina Staffordshire University |
| Signature | .svg) |
Avdullah Hoti (born 4 February 1976) is a Kosovan politician, who served as thePrime Minister of Kosovo from 3 June 2020 until 22 March 2021. He previously served as theminister of Finance of Kosovo between 2014 and 2017 in thePDK/LDK coalition government.
In September 2020, Hoti signed theagreement on normalisation of economicrelations withSerbia and accession to theMini Schengen Zone, as well as on mutual recognition between Kosovo andIsrael and the establishment ofdiplomatic relations. He has an active role in theEuropean Union-mediatednegotiations between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo.
He joined the political partyLDK in 2006. He was elected as vice president ofPristina (Kosovo's capital) in the 2008 communal elections. He served until the nextcommunal elections in 2013, when his party lost the city. In the next year, he was a candidate in theparliamentary elections asMinister of Finance and he was elected. He served in that position until 2017 when the government was voted out by ano-confidence motion. Then, he was the coalition's candidate forPrime Minister of Kosovo in theKosovan parliamentary election of 2017. He became the head of the LDK parliamentary group from 2017 until 2020, when he took office asFirst Deputy Prime Minister.[1] He was nominated by the LDK to be his party's nominee for PM after theKurti government failed a confidence vote, but his eligibility to be PM was questioned byAlbin Kurti and his party on the grounds that one cannot form a government without first having the party that won the election enter government, and they demanded new elections. However, on 28 May 2020, the Constitution Court of Kosovo gave the right to the second party and Avdullah Hoti to form a government without elections. After the party that won the elections failed again to form a new government, the Court argued that Avdullah Hoti was eligible to proceed to be voted on by the Parliament as the new PM of the Republic of Kosovo. On 3 June 2020, Hoti was electedPrime Minister with 61 votes in favor, 24 against and one abstention.[2]
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On 2 August 2020, Hoti announced on his Facebook page that he was diagnosed withCOVID-19 suffering mild symptoms, and that he would work from home in the coming two weeks.[3]
On 4 September 2020, Hoti andAleksandar Vučić,President of Serbia, signedan agreement on thenormalisation of economic relations between Serbia and Kosovo at theWhite House in the presence ofDonald Trump,President of the United States.[4] The deal will encompass freer transit, including by rail and road, while both parties agreed to work with theExport–Import Bank of the United States and theU.S. International Development Finance Corporation and to join theMini Schengen Zone, but the agreement also included mutual recognitionbetween Israel and Kosovo.[5][6]
On 21 December 2020, the constitutional court of Kosovo ruled that the vote of lawmaker Etem Arifi, of the minority Ashkali Party for Integration, for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti was invalid and consequently "the Government did not have the majority of the votes of the lawmakers.” Arifi's vote gave the government 61 votes in the 120-seat chamber, and without it the vote would have failed. As a result, Kosovo went to snap elections and the Hoti government continued as a caretaker one until the elections were held.
List of official visits abroad made by Avdullah Hoti as Prime Minister:
| # | Country | Year | Cities visited | Type of visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  European Union | 25 June 2020 | Brussels | Official visit |
| 2 |  Albania | 3 July 2020 | Tirana | Official visit |
| 3 |  France | 7 July 2020 | Paris | Official visit |
| 4 |  United States | 1–5 September 2020 | Washington, D.C. | 2020 Kosovo–Serbia agreement |
| 5 | European Union | 6–8 September 2020 | Brussels | Belgrade–Pristina negotiations |
| 6 | Albania | 2 October 2020 | Tirana | Meeting |
| 7 |  North Macedonia | 23 October 2020 | Skopje | Official visit |
| 8 |  Italy | 3 November 2020 | Rome | Official visit |
| 9 |  Vatican City | 5 November 2020 | Vatican City | Official visit |
Media related toAvdullah Hoti at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Kosovo 2020–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | First Deputy Prime Minister 2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance of Kosovo 2014–2017 | Succeeded by |
 Republic of Kosova(Recognized only byAlbania) (1992–2000) | |
|---|---|
 UN-administered Kosovo(2000–2008) | |
 Republic of Kosovo(Recognizedby 117 UN member states) (2008–present) | |
