TIRANA, July 7 – In an attempt to end the political deadlock, the opposition Democratic Party has come up with a proposal targeting to bring to an end the impasse on the justice reform, a key requirement for Albania to open EU accession talks, but the compromise seems far away as the ruling Socialists have rejected the idea.
The opposition reached out to the ruling majority earlier this week and proposed a new formula for the vetting process of candidates running for the four new constitutional institutions that will be established within the framework of the justice reform. Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha said that the formula in question which he will make public next week is still based on recommendation 88 of Venice Commission draft and its so-called politically reserved seats in case of impasse.
“We presented the formula to the ruling majority 17 days ago. Our formula is in accordance to Venice’s recommendation 88, and paves the way for finding compromise in adopting the justice reform. So far, we have not made it public, hoping that the other party would negotiate and find a solution. For 17 days, the Socialist Party has refused to negotiate. Under these conditions, we have come to the conclusion that Rama does not want the justice reform, and wants to blame the opposition,” Basha said.
Tirana Times has learned that the opposition is calling for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Commission with 12 members, 6 from the Socialist-led majority and 6 from the opposition which can do the vetting process for all candidates running for judges and prosecutors. According to the formula, none of the political parties will be entitled to nominating judges and prosecutors; however people who meet the criteria are welcome to run for the job. After the presentation of the candidates, the figures of nominees will be checked by a team of three members from the Constitutional Court. In addition, the Democratic Party formula says that the members of the commission will vote in secrecy regarding the nominations and then the list of the 12 approved candidacies will be sent to Assembly and their final approval will require a qualified majority of votes. In their new proposal, the Democrats oppose the possibility of international partners to prepare a list of candidates if the parliament fails to appoint the new judges and prosecutors. Nevertheless, Basha underlined that this does not mean that international partners will be excluded.
Reacting to the Democratic Party proposal, Prime Minister Edi Rama said the opposition’s proposal did not guarantee professionalism and a politically unbiased vetting process. “This reform is worthless without vetting which will scan the wealth, career and knowledge of everybody who will be paid by Albanians’ taxes to serve as judge and prosecutor. Likewise, with a vetting process carried out by politically appointed people and without the participation of internationals in the selection of the commission members, this reform is also worthless,” said Rama.
In the meantime, the ruling majority earlier denied having received a formula on the appointment of judges and prosecutors suggested by the Democratic Party. At the end of the meeting of the Ad Hoc Commission on justice reform this week, Socialist MP Vasilika Hysi declared that she was not aware of the proposal and that the majority will not accept formulas that are not in line with the Venice Commission recommendations. “This is the first time that I heard about such proposal. Regarding recommendation 88, the Venice commission provides some solutions in the case parties do not reach consensus. If the Democrat colleagues withdrew from the reserved seats, I feel good, because it was an absurd request not in line with the Venice Commission,” Hysi said.
The Socialist MP added that the majority supports the idea that international partners do the vetting of judges and prosecutors although the opposition claims this violates the state’s sovereignty.
The ruling majority is hopeful of reaching consensus on the justice reform on July 10th when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland is expected to visit Albania. During her first visit to Albania Nuland called on political leaders to pass a qualitative and all-inclusive justice reform. The U.S. State Department has been in contact with the Albanian opposition in the past week regarding unresolved issues and proposals made by the Democrats. U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu also stepped up his efforts in a meeting with Democratic Party representatives hoping for a consensus on the reform. On Wednesday afternoon Lu held a meeting with the Democratic Party MP, Majlinda Bregu, right after the Democratic Party leader said that the opposition has been offering a new proposition for the reform and it has been rejected.
The international community has warned Albania to not delay the approval of the country’s most important reform. U.S. and EU ambassadors have insisted that constitutional changes that aim to overhaul country’s corruption-riddled justice system must be adopted quickly and in consensus and noted that failure to act would have consequences. Political parties in Albania have been discussing the justice reform since 2014, but leaders have been dragging the issue out fearing they would lose control on the key judiciary institutions. The international community is concerned that if political parties fail to approve constitutional changes before the summer recess, the assembly will not be able to approve it in 2017 which is an election year. This means that the reform could be postponed for several more years. All eyes are set on July 21st which represents the ultimate deadline for the approval of the reform.
