Prishtina 2030 Mediterranean Games at risk – Kosovo government seeks to organize them itself, receives negative response

The Prishtina 2030 Mediterranean Games are at risk and may not be held at all. This is due to Kosovo’s institutions’ delay in making the Organizing Committee of the Mediterranean Games operational. Moreover, the Government of Kosovo has sent a letter to the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games, requesting a new agreement.

The Government of Kosovo has sent the Mediterranean Games a new agreement in which the main protagonist is the Government of Kosovo, rather than the Municipality of Prishtina, as initially envisaged by the Mediterranean Games. On 27.06.2024, the International Committee replied to the Government, saying that it cannot enter into direct agreements with governments, since it signs agreements with cities.

In its response, it warned that there is a risk that the Mediterranean Games in Kosovo could fail altogether because Kosovo is behind on the commitments it made.

“The ICMG (International Committee of the Mediterranean Games) warmly invites all parties involved to urgently prepare the required documentation (which is already known to everyone), bearing in mind that the deadline for making the Organizing Committee of the Mediterranean Games operational is September 8, 2024, at the latest” – the response sent to the Government by the ICMG President and Secretary General states.

The Organizing Committee of the Mediterranean Games reminds the Government that since September 8, 2023, when Kosovo won the Games, no first step has been taken by the Kosovo authorities—the establishment of the Organizing Committee of the Mediterranean Games. In other words, no steps required for these Games have been taken in Kosovo for 11 months, while our politicians argue over who should head the “house”—the Government or the Municipality—and, as a result, Kosovo’s young people risk missing out on the long-awaited investments in sport.

The International Committee has clearly rejected the Government’s proposal for the “new agreement” it put forward and, in addition to rejecting it, has given the Government until September 8 to fulfill its obligations under the original contract, because otherwise the opportunity to organize these Games in Kosovo will be lost. “The International Committee of the Mediterranean Games cannot enter into direct agreements with governments. The ICMG Statute does not provide, under any circumstances, for governments to be direct interlocutors in relations with the ICMG,” the International Committee’s response states.

The main difference between the agreement signed on 08.09.2023 and the one proposed by the Government of Kosovo is that, under the first, the Municipality of Prishtina is the organizer and the Government is the financial guarantor for organizing the Games, whereas under the second, the Government itself is the organizer of the Games.

In the proposed agreement, which KALLXO.com has seen, the Government proposes that it be the party implementing the agreement and that, under this agreement, the Government will “take all necessary steps to implement the agreement”—in other words, that the Government be the organizer. The agreement was sent on behalf of the Government by Daulina Osmani, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. The Government of Kosovo proposed that the agreement be signed by the Government itself, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania, and the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games.

“The purpose of this agreement is to recognize the ongoing efforts to organize the 21st Mediterranean Games, as defined in the contract issued in Heraklion on September 8, 2023. The organization of the Mediterranean Games will be implemented in accordance with this agreement and the contract, which is part of this agreement as Annex 1, including the bid book,” the agreement proposed by the Government states. In the agreement proposed by the Government of Kosovo, the Municipality of Prishtina and the Kosovo Olympic Committee are not listed as signatories, although they signed the first agreement. KALLXO.com asked Prime Minister Albin Kurti about the risk to the Mediterranean Games. The “head of the household” in the Government told us he had no information.

“I have no information whatsoever that there are any problems; quite the opposite. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is responsible for this—specifically, Deputy Minister Daulina Osmani, who can give you the best answer,” Prime Minister Kurti said on 24.07.2024.

KALLXO.com also contacted Deputy Minister Osmani to ask why they had requested a different agreement and whether there was a risk that the Prishtina 2030 Mediterranean Games would not be held at all. Since 26.07.2024, Deputy Minister Osmani has been called eight times, contacted five times via messaging apps and twice by email, but she did not respond to the questions sent by KALLXO.com.

Questions were also officially sent to the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games, which has likewise remained officially silent on this matter. The agreement between the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games, the Kosovo Olympic Committee and the Municipality of Prishtina was signed on 08.09.2023. On that occasion, the Government of Kosovo signed as a witness. The signatories on its behalf were the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Hajrulla Çeku, and the Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati.

These Games would mean multimillion-euro investments in sports infrastructure, the largest investment Kosovo has made in sport since the war—something that appears likely to remain a dream because Kosovo is falling behind in fulfilling basic obligations, such as holding a meeting of the commission between the Municipality and the Government. Kosovo was the only candidate to compete for the right to organize the Mediterranean Games.

Albania has pledged to help Kosovo organize the Games by offering its coastline for sailing competitions. What is evident so far is that, after 11 months, the central and local authorities have not even managed to meet with each other.

In other words, the commission that was supposed to be established between the Municipality of Prishtina, the MCYS and the Olympic Committee has not met for 11 months. Twenty-six countries from three continents participate in the Mediterranean Games. From Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. From Asia: Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. From Europe: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain.

Kosovo was admitted to the ICMG (International Committee of the Mediterranean Games) in 2015 and participated for the first time in Tarragona 2018, in Spain. The sports program includes around 24 sports, with the participation of more than three thousand athletes.