Hashim Thaçi
Prime Minister
Biography of Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi
Following the victory of the Democratic Party of Kosova in the
parliamentary elections of 17 November 2007, Hashim Thaçi was elected
Prime Minister of the Government of Kosova on 9 January 2008.
On 17 February 2008, Prime Minister Thaçi, in the Assembly of Kosova,
declared Kosova as an independent, sovereign and democratic state.
Mr. Hashim Thaçi is the first Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosova.
During the status negotiation process (2005 – 2007) led by the UN
Special Envoy, President Martti Ahtisaari, Mr. Thaçi was member of the
Unity Team.
The Ahtisaari document resulted in the Comprehensive Proposal for the independence of Kosova.
During the International Conference on Kosova, held in Rambouillet,
France, (6 – 22 February 1999), Mr. Thaçi led the Kosovar Delegation.
The conference was concluded in Paris on 18 March 1999. The signature
by the Kosova delegation of the Rambouillet Accords opened the way for
the NATO military intervention in Kosova.
Mr. Hashim Thaçi is one of the main founders of the Kosova Liberation Army (1992).
During the war (1998-1999), Mr. Thaiçi was the political chief of the Kosova Liberation Army.
From March 1999 until January 2000, Mr. Hashim Thaçi was Prime Minister
of the Provisional Government of Kosova (Unity Government).
During this period he was active in intensive political and diplomatic
activities in the major world centers in the US and the Western Europe.
He began his political career by joining the People’s Movement of the Republic of Kosova in 1989 – 1993, (LPRK).
He was leader of the students’ movement in 1990 – 1993.
In 1991, Mr. Hashim Thaçi was elected student deputy-rector of the University of Prishtina.
After the violent expulsion of students and teachers from the
university premises, he was active in finding alternative housing and
and structuring of the university education in Kosova.
Mr. Thaçi completed his undergraduate studies in history from the University of Prishtina in 1993.
After the founding of the KLA, the Serbian police failed in their efforts to arrest him in 1993.
The Serbian court of Prishtina sentenced in 1997 Mr. Hashim Thaçi and a
group of KLA members in absentia to many years in prison.
In the University of Zurich in Switzerland (1996), he attended
postgraduate studies in the field of south-eastern history and
political sciences until early 1998.
During his stay in Western countries, Mr. Thaçi came back to Kosova
clandestinely several times to strengthen the KLA units on the ground.
Following the conclusion of the war in 1999, as a Prime Minister of the
Provisional Government of Kosova, Mr. Thaçi led the negotiations with
the international community which resulted in the signing of the
Agreement on the Transformation of the KLA into a Kosova Protection
Corps (TMK).
With the launch of the work of the Interim Administrative Council
(KPA), as a joint governing structure with the UN Mission in Kosova
(UNMIK), he was member of this Council from January 2000 until the
first parliamentary elections in 2001.
In October 1999, he established the Party of Democratic Progress of
Kosova (PPDK), and at the first party convention (2000), Mr. Thaçi was
elected leader of the Democratic Party of Kosova, (PDK).
He was reelected as leader of the PDK at the second party convention (2002) and the third party convention (2005).
Mr. Thaçi was elected member of the Assembly of Kosova on three consecutive terms.
He is the political leader with the biggest number of votes won in the last parliamentary elections in Kosova.
Since 1999, Mr. Hashim Thaçi promoted and defened the Kosovar cause
through numerous lectures and speeches given in dozens of prestigious
universities and institutions in the West. He also published many
editorials and articles in the local, regional and international press.
He speaks English and German languages.
He was born on 24 April 1968 in Burojë village of Skënderaj.
He lives in Prishtina with his wife Lumnije and his son Endrit.