TIRANA, Oct. 7 – Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the School of Magistrates Monday, OSCE’s deputy head in Tirana, Robert Wilton, said a reform of the justice system is indispensable.
The process of reform started at the end of last year but its process has been bogged down in partisan debate in a parliamentary commission between the ruling coalition and the opposition. The parliamentary commission has sent two versions of the draft reform to the expert Venice Commission for advice
The governing Socialist-led coalition has said it plans to complete the reform by the end of the year, but it has already missed an earlier September deadline.
Wilton told officials they should not worry “if Albania’s justice sector reform isn’t finished by the end of the year…. Getting it right is more important than getting it fast.”
He compared a justice career in the justice system to a journey. “In my country, the UK, we have just celebrated the 800 year anniversary of one of our greatest justice system milestones. And we’re still reforming,” he said.
A meaningful justice sector reform is the future stability and sustainability of the country and its success will be decided not in laws on paper, but in the daily experiences of citizens in courtrooms all across Albania, Wilton added.
He called on the new judges and prosecutors to be part of the reform.
“There will be a vetting of judges. Those who fail will lose their careers and their reputations. Some will go to jail,” Wilton said.
He also asked them that as future judges and prosecutors, they should “take an interest in what is going on in the assembly and to play your part.”
The judicial reform is on top of the agenda in Albania as part of its EU bid, which has always included the judiciary as post-communist Albania’s Achilles’ heel in its previous progress reports.
