TIRANA, March 7 – The majority and the opposition reached a last minute compromise last Friday after two days of around-the-clock negotiations on the bylaws of the decriminalization law, thus paving the way to its implementation. The law has been designed with the specific purpose of barring criminals from holding public office.
The decriminalization bylaws passed unanimously in Parliament with 114 votes in favor and received the backing of all MPs attending the session.
After the law takes effect on March 6, all public officials in the country including the President, the government, members of parliament, local governance, military, public administration and the diplomatic service will be required to fill a self-declaration form within a two-month period. The form contains eight questions concerning an official’s criminal record including the consent for providing fingerprints. False or withheld information means public officials lose their position and the right to be elected or nominated in the future, but it also constitutes a criminal offence subject to fines or imprisonment.
Negotiations proved difficult as just one day before the parliament session on Thursday the two camps were still far apart, which risked derailing the implementation of the decriminalization law.
With the deadline for voting the bylaws looming, parliament’s session last Thursday was postponed to allow for the two political camps to overcome the last remaining divergences. The ‘apple of discord’ was the institution responsible for verifying information provided on the self declaration form. The opposition insisted that the Prosecution Office be tasked with the verification process, whereas the majority trusted the verification process in the hands of the institution employing the official. After the marathon negotiations, conducted by Democratic Party MP Oerd Bylykbashi and Socialist MP Taulant Balla, the two sides agreed that both institutions should be responsible for the verification of the data provided on the self-declaration form.
The two political camps have also agreed that the Prime Minister and his cabinet members will have to fill the self-declaration form, a proposal initially rejected by the majority. The Democratic Party also insisted that the self-declaration form must contain information regarding previous arrests, whereas the Socialists supported a version which required public officials to declare whether they had been sentenced by a court instead, in Albania or abroad. Disagreements also arose regarding the inclusion in the self-declaration form of other names officials might have held in the past, issues which were resolved after intensive negotiations.
However, not all was smooth sailing as despite giving its consent for the bylaws, soon after the voting the opposition said it would abandon parliament sessions until the conditions it has previously voiced are met. The opposition is asking for the suspension of members of parliament who have been arrested for crimes against life. The opposition’s request comes after Armando Prenga, a former Socialist MP involved in an armed conflict, returned to Parliament after being released from house arrest.
The opposition is also asking for the removal of the MP mandate for three majority representatives Koà§o Kokedhima, Valentina Leskaj and Rakip Suli claiming conflict of interest, while the Democrats third request concerns parliamentary investigative committees, since according to the opposition the majority is hampering the work of investigative committees demanded by the opposition.
The opposition’s move came as a surprise. For over a week, the Democratic parliamentary group had been discussing over its future relationship with the Parliament, but boycotting hadn’t received much support within the party.
The decriminalization law, considered as Europe’s toughest, was unanimously voted in parliament on December 17, 2015, but disagreements over required bylaws had delayed its implementation.
