| Behgjet Pacolli | |
|---|---|
| 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 15 April 2011 |
|
| President | Atifete Jahjaga |
| Prime Minister | Hashim Thaçi |
| Preceded by | Hajredin Kuçi |
| 3rd President of Kosovo | |
| In office 22 February 2011 – 4 April 2011 |
|
| Prime Minister | Hashim Thaçi |
| Preceded by | Jakup Krasniqi (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Jakup Krasniqi (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 August 1951 Marevce (near Pristina) Yugoslavia (now Kosovo[b]) |
| Political party | Independent (2011–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
New Kosovo Alliance (Before 2011) |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Oxa (1999–2002) Masha Pacolli |
| Religion | Islam |
Behgjet Isa Pacolli[a] (born 30 August 1951; Albanian pronunciation: [bɛhˈdʑɛt i'sa paˈtsɔɫi][1]) is a former President of the Republic of Kosovo[b], and is now First Deputy Prime Minister serving in the cabinet of Hashim Thaçi. Pacolli was one of the signatories of 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence.
On 30 March 2011 the Constitutional Court of Kosovo declared that the constitution was broken during his election as President and he is no longer President of the Republic of Kosovo with immediate effect.[3] Pacolli stated the he respects the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo and that he will not offer his resignation but he will leave his offices from 30 March 2011.
He is the President and CEO of Mabetex Group, a Swiss-based construction and civil-engineering company. Pacolli was also the President of the tenth biggest political party in Kosovo the New Kosovo Alliance.[2] For the past four years, he has been involved in Kosovar politics. He is believed to be the world's richest Albanian.[3]
Behgjet was the second of a family of 10 children who grew up, like most in Kosovo at the time, in the poor countryside. Similarly to thousands of other Albanians from Kosovo, Pacolli moved to Western Europe in search of job opportunities.
As a young man, Pacolli contacted companies throughout Austria and Germany seeking work and, soon after his release, he joined an Austrian company, where he worked as a sales representative for Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. Two years later, he moved to Switzerland and joined a Swiss company he had gotten to know in Moscow.[3]
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Behgjet is the son of Isa and Nazmije. He is Kosovan-Albanian by ethnicity but has additional Swiss citizenship. In the 1970s, he emigrated to Hamburg, West Germany where he achieved a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, specializing in Marketing and Management. In 1974, he completed his military service in Yugoslav army and returned to Kosovo. In 1976, Pacolli moved to Switzerland where he became one of the top managers of Inter plastic, an engineering and trading company dealing in chemicals and plastics and cooperating with the countries of the Soviet bloc.
In 1990, he founded Mabetex Project Management, a construction company based in Lugano, Switzerland, which has developed into a large business group now called the Mabetex Group, with interests in insurance, media, construction, etc.
In 1992, during construction projects in Yakutia, Russia, Pacolli closely cooperated with the Yakutsk mayor Pavel Borodin. When Borodin had become the presidential property manager, Mabetex was given several important contracts to reconstruct, renovate and refurbish the former Russian Federation Parliament, the Russian Opera House, State Duma and the Moscow Kremlin. Mabetex also constructed the first luxury hotel, the Swiss Diamond Hotel, in the new Russian era. In 1998, Prosecutor General of Russia Yuri Skuratov opened a bribery investigation against Mabetex which was dropped after he left his office, and accused Pacolli personally of bribing President Boris Yeltsin’s family members. In 2000 Pacolli sued Skuratov in a Russian court for defamation. He won the case and Skuratov was ordered to pay one million Russian ruble to Pacolli for damages.[5][6][7][7][8][9]
Mabetex is currently working in Kazakhstan where it has played and important role in the construction of the new capital Astana, one of the awarded projects completed there was the new Presidential Palace. One of the greatest symbols of Mabetex’s achievements in Kazakhstan has been the transformation of the President’s residence. It is now a luxurious presidential residence whose splendour is a delight to visiting foreign dignitaries and to dictatorial President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who works there. Situated on the left bank of the river Essy, its architecture combines classic, modern and ethnic influences. The president’s residence is part of a complex of modern administrative buildings in the new center of the city – and its main purpose is to symbolize the new face of Kazakhstan.[10] The Group, is a major player in the Kazakhstan construction sector having built nearly 40% of the buildings in the New Astana City.[11]
In Italy, the Mabetex Group was responsible in the study and project for the refurbishment of the La Fenice theatre in Venice after it was burned.[13]
In Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, his group constructed the award winning project for the City Hall.
On 17 March 2006, Pacolli founded the political party New Kosovo Alliance (AKR), which took part in the 2007 parliamentary election and came third. During these elections he declared property worth €420 million.[14] Pacolli became a deputy in the Assembly of Kosovo and a member of the Committee for Budget and Finance.
Since 2004, Behgjet Pacolli has continued his lobbying efforts on behalf of Kosovo by supporting numerous institutions and advocacy groups and lobbying foreign governments, institutions and international agencies to support Kosovo's full independence and recognition. Pacolli is an international councilor of the CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies).[15] Since Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2007, Pacolli has been working diligently lobbying countries to officially recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Pacolli has travelled to several countries to lobby for recognition of Kosovo's independence and is continuing to do so. Pacolli continues his lobbying activities all around the world, where he meets senior leaders of world countries in an attempt to convince them of the arguments in favor of recognizing Kosovo’s independence.[16][17][18][19]
On 22 February 2011, Behgjet Pacolli was elected President of Kosovo as a part of a power sharing agreement with Hashim Thaçi.[20] The same day the parliament of the Republic of Kosovo chose Pacolli as the President of the Republic.[16][17][18][19] Pacolli submitted his resignation. The Constitutional Court’s opinion was that he did nothing wrong.[21] He announced he would run for presidency again in the immediate election. Later, he agreed to have Atifete Jahjaga elected as president until 2012 when a constitution reform would mandate new direct presidential elections. Pacolli is expected to run in the 2012 election.
Pacolli was married to Anna Oxa, an Italian-Albanian singer, from 1999 to 2002. At present he is married to Russian Maria (Masha) Pacolli (nee Sichkova) and is the father of a son and four daughters.
In 2004, three United Nations workers were taken hostage in Kabul, Annette Flannigan, Angelito Nayan and Shqipe Hebibi, whom was from Kosovo and had neither representation nor support from the outside. Behgjet Pacolli traveled to Afghanistan for one month of intensive personal work and negotiations on their behalf and has been credited with securing their release. It was two years later that the whole story repeated itself when the Italian citizen, Gabrielle Torsello was kidnapped in Afghanistan. Behgjet Pacolli was contacted by the Italian services in order to negotiate her liberation and was successful in doing so.[23][24][25][26]
In 1993, Pacolli established "Les Enfants du Sakha", a fund with the stated goal of providing help in the medical care, education and recreation of children.[27]
Since the end of the war, Pacolli has set up in Lugano, the Foundation for the Organisation and Reconstruction of Kosovo (FORK), through which he has been channelling aid to the province. Pacolli has employed several thousand Kosovar Albanians in projects across the world, as well as building houses, providing food, and opening schools for famililes.[3]
Pacolli’s humanitarian foundation “Behgjet Pacolli” has constructed and furnished the American University in Kosovo, in Pristina.[4] and now students from around the world attend including the ones from Kosovo.
Pacolli also financially supports the SEED Foundation (South East European Development) and is an international councillor of the CSIS (Centre for Strategic and International Studies).[15]
On July 2010, International Union for Peace honoured the president of AKR (New Kosovo Alliance), Mr. Behgjet Pacolli with the special price "Cavaliere della Pace", (Cavalier of Peace). Mr. Pacolli is well known for his humanitarian activities during the last decades toward the people not only in Kosovo, but also around the world.[28]
| a. | ^ Albanian: Behgjet Isa Pacolli, Serbo-Croatian: Bedžet Isa Pacoli. |
| b. | ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, while Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. Its independence is recognised by 86 UN member states. |
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