Pristina, May 19th, 2025 – Considering the recent situation in the Municipality of Pristina regarding waste management, as well as the real risk this poses to the safety and public health of citizens, the Ombudsperson has invited the Mayor of Pristina, Mr. Perparim Rama and the management of the company “Pastrimi”.

The purpose of the meeting was for the Ombudsperson to hear from the parties and to understand more about how the rights of citizens are being violated by the problems that have arisen between the parties regarding waste management in the capital.

In the last minutes, representatives from the municipality announced that they cannot participate in the meeting, which for the Ombudsperson these reasons do not hold. The Ombudsperson considers such a position as disrespect for this institution and this shows complete irresponsibility of the representatives of the municipality in relation to the interests and concerns of the citizens of Pristina as well as of more than 800 employees of this company.

In this meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the “Pastrimi”, Mr. Petrit Reçica, presented the arguments and submitted sufficient materials and evidence that show that there is a regulation in force, approved by the Municipal Assembly of Pristina, in which the municipality is not implementing and as a result the non-implementation of this regulation has led to the situation where the company “Pastrimi” is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Considering the many problems presented by the management of the KRM “Pastrimi” (the inability to pay salaries to employees, the lack of fuel supply to trucks, etc.), for which at this stage of the investigation, the Ombudsperson will not comment, and pending the hearing of the other party, in this case the Municipality of Prishtina, so that the Ombudsperson can then come up with a final position.

Inevitable in this situation is the damage that is being caused to the employees and citizens of the municipality, endangering the city from the spread of a epidemic and endangering public health.

The Ombudsperson recalls that it is primarily the responsibility of the Municipality of Prishtina to find a solution to get out of this situation, and it also has an obligation to provide citizens with quality and timely services.

The Ombudsperson, in the coming days, will make another attempt to meet with the Mayor of Pristina in order to clarify this entire situation, attempting to also take on the role of mediator in order to resolve this problem.