Behgjet Pacolli

Behgjet Pacolli

Behgjet Isa Pacolli (born 30 August 1951; ) is a former President of the Republic of Kosovo, 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. 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. For the past four years, he has been involved in Kosovar politics. He is believed to be the world's richest Albanian.

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.