The bill, which requires a qualified majority of 84 votes, has been compiled as of almost two years but has failed to receive approval because of political stalemate between the government and opposition over election disputes
TIRANA, Sept. 13 – The bill to establish an administrative court system has been put back on the Parliament’s agenda after the opposition’s break of the parliamentary boycott. The bill, which requires a qualified majority of 84 votes, has been compiled as of almost two years but has failed to receive approval because of political stalemate between the government and opposition over election disputes. Since the 2009, the opposition has mostly boycotted Parliament and refused to give its consensus over laws needing a qualified majority of votes. Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli announced on Tuesday’s plenary session that the voting of draft law on the administrative courts system was being postponed after a request by leaders of two biggest parliamentary groups, but this draft law will remain on the Parliament’s agenda. Opposition Socialist MPs have requested that the law is turned back for discussion in parliamentary commission before being given the final approval. Failure to establish the administrative court system and implement a tax amnesty reform were the two big disappointments with Albanian politics for the Tirana Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2010. In October 2010, the United States embassy in Tirana announced it was withdrawing from its financial support to the Administrative Courts bill after both the majority and opposition failed to find consensus on its approval in Parliamentary because of the ongoing political stalemate since the June 28, 2009 general elections. In a statement, the embassy said that failure to pass this law resulted in the withdrawal of continued U.S. assistance to the Administrative Courts component of the nearly 16 million dollars from the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement. The Administrative Courts law was designed to reduce opportunities for corruption, improve transparency in the judicial system, strengthen the rule of law, boost citizen trust in public institutions, and further align Albania’s judicial system with required European Union integration standards. The law was identified as an important requirement for Albania, and it has had wide support from political parties and from the business community. The embassy had warned that the bill should have been passed by September 30, 2010 in order not to jeopardize continuation of US government assistance on the project. Business costs associated with the absence of administrative courts are more than 400 million euros a year, say government officials who were pushing to have the law on the new court system approved in parliament.
