Kosovo coalition government collapses – deputy PM

PRISTINA (Reuters) – The biggest party in Kosovo’s government has decided to end its coalition with the smaller Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Deputy Prime Minister Rame Manaj said on Friday.
Speaking to Koha television, Manaj of the LDK said he had received a phone call from the other Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci, who is also deputy party leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), informing him of the coalition collapse.
“Kuci told me that they have decided to form a coalition with two other parties,” Manaj said.
“We will have a meeting later to discuss this.”
No one from Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s PDK was available to confirm or deny Manaj’s statement.
Kosovo’s public television said a source in the PDK had said the LDK would be replaced by two small parties and a new coalition agreement signed on Friday.
Hashim Thaci became prime minister in 2007 after general elections. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; editing by Andrew Roche)