Analysis: Albania’s parliament undermines Constitutional Court in Xhaçka ruling
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Albania’s parliament, under the control of the Socialist Party, has overturned a decision made by the Constitutional Court that would see to the expulsion of MP Olta Xhaçka from parliament. Xhaçka is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as the Minister of Defence, and is seen as a key figure in the government of the Socialist Party.
According to Albania’s opposition, Olta Xhaçka is in a clear conflict of interest because her husband, former Socialist MP Artan Gaçi, has benefited from state funds through his status as a “strategic investor.” That status comes with competitive advantages and privileges in the private sector by enabling the use of public funds in infrastructure investments, which in the case of Gaçi relates to the construction of a five-star resort on the coast of Dhërmi in southern Albania.
In March 2022, the Council of Ministers announced the decision to grant use of a coastal area in Himarë municipality to AG.TTC, a company that would implement the Dreamades Luxury Suites project. As this decision stipulates, AG. TTC is granted permission to use the shores and the relevant beach area in front of the complex for a period of 30 years, which is now under construction in the village of Gjileke, Himarë.
Xhaçka’s husband is the owner of AG.TCC and was granted strategic investor status precisely for the Dreamades project, and this has raised concerns about a clear conflict of interest.
Local experts in Albania highlight that for a long time in Albania there is no clear distinction between what is public and what is private, citing the Xhaçka case as the most recent example.
In a well-functioning democracy, Minister Xhacka would have to choose between her post in public office and any ventures into private business by her or her partner. The flagrancy of this breach of public trust is exacerbated when considering that not only is Xhacka an important member of the Socialist Party currently in power, but her husband is a former MP of the same party.
In June 2022 the main opposition Democratic Party promptly called for Xhacka to give up her seat in parliament on grounds of unconstitutionally using her influence in governance to benefit the private business of her life partner. This decision came after a parliamentary majority overruled the proposal to establish a commission that would investigate and oversee the granting of strategic investor status to private enterprises.
After the opposition's request, the Constitutional Court asked parliament to provide them with Xhaçka's case for review. In June 2023, however, SP members of parliament sought to delay investigations into the matter by proposing a re-examination of the case by a special committee in the Albanian parliament that is equipped to investigate conflicts of interest for deputies, effectively hindering due process with bureaucratic hurdles. A parliamentary majority managed to delay the examination of Xhaçka’s case by more than a year, and ultimately refused to provide this case file to the Constitutional Court.
In reaction to this, the Constitutional Court announced that the parliament had violated the Albanian constitution.
"The Constitutional Court assesses that in this particular case, the [parliamentary] assembly should have accepted the petitioner's motion and sent the case for review to the aforementioned court so that the aspects characterized as unconstitutional during the term of MP Olta Xhaçka would be subjected to evaluation,” the court noted in its ruling.
Xhaçka herself states that she has not benefited a single penny from public funds from her partner having attained the status of strategic investor.
A DP MP called Xhaxhka’s stance “very depressing,” adding that if the status of a strategic investor does not provide any privileges, such as access to public funds, then what function does it have? It has been the unfortunate reality in Albania that through this status, investors have benefitted repeatedly from public funds thanks to their strong ties to powerful members in government.
The refusal of the parliamentary majority to abide by a decision made by the Constitutional Court marks the first time where the most important institution of justice in the country was disregarded by the legislative. A total of 72 socialist MPs voted against an investigation of malpractice based on a clear conflict of interest directed at former foreign minister and current MP Xhaçka.
That is a "coup against the Constitution and the Constitutional Court," the opposition has noted.
“It is very disheartening,” said a Western diplomat in Tirana, “to see the parliament be reduced to what is essentially another department of the government. This avid protection of Xhaçka achieved through any means necessary reveals the frightening and deformed nature of the political system in Albania.”
Following the decision of the parliament, the head of the opposition in parliament, Gazmend Bardhi, spoke out and labelled this "a black day for Albania and for the parliament. With this decision, the sanctity of the Constitutional Court has been defiled, a court that has been effectively devalued via a voting majority in parliament. A question therefore emerges: if Minister Xhaçka does not follow the rule of law and abide by a decision made by the Constitutional Court, why should ordinary Albanian citizens abide by a decision given in ordinary court?"
After the vote was cast in parliament, there was no reaction from the Constitutional Court. However, a week before the parliament reviewed the decision of the Constitutional Court, the president of said court, Holta Zaçaj, noted the following in an interview: “It is really an unusual and implausible situation for a democratic state.”
“The Court's decisions must be respected and implemented, there is no equivocation for the Court's decisions. It is not for the Parliament to decide how and in what manner it should implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court,” Chief Justice Zaçaj said.
The case of Minister Xhaçka came back into public view in recent days, and again it did so because of something that relates to her partner and their luxurious construction project in the Albanian Riviera.
The Special Court against Crime and Corruption (SPAK) in Albania arrested the Mayor of Himarë and put over 10 thousand square metres of land under seizure. It turns out that this land was the very same land where the hotel of Xhaçka and her partner was said to be constructed.
According to SPAK, the land was purchased by the former minister’s husband at a comically low price. Moreover, this land was initially owned by the state, but through the falsification of various documents the ownership was unlawfully transferred from the public to a private persons.
This finding is one among many that solidifies the egregious state of Albanian politics, and that calls for a renewal of state bureaucracy that is in accordance with the rule of law and that works for the people and not against it.
