TIRANA, Nov. 20 – A special mission from the Venice Commission kicked off meetings in Tirana on Monday after the opposition’s proposal for changes in the Constitution to include verification of politicians’ assets and their ties to the world of crime.
The Venice Commission was involved in the issue following a formal request from the Albanian Parliament under the initiative of the left-wing majority, which considers such a move
unnecessary for as long as the legal framework is complete after the interventions that have been made with the Decriminalization Law and justice reform.
Nonetheless, five Venice Commission members have traveled to Tirana to gather the positions of the country’s political parties, but also that of the main institutions regarding the constitutional changes proposed by the opposition on verifying politicians’ assets and their links to crime.
They already met with representatives from the three main parliamentary groups: democrats, socialists and socialist movement for integration, while they are expected to also have talks with representatives of the international community and leaders of the Constitutional Court, the High Court and the Inspectorate of Property Verification.
The opposition opposed the government’s request for an opinion from the Venice Commission, accusing the Socialists of seeking to drag the case, for which the democrats have already made a proposal.
During an opposition meeting in Berat on Tuesday, Basha said Venice Commission representatives bothered coming all the way for nothing, adding the DP is not looking for anything other than the standard they themselves approved for judges and prosecutors.
Basha indicated the commission’s opinion will not really matter to the opposition, which has made the vetting of politicians a red line and hasn’t participated in parliament since its start in September.
Head of the DP parliamentary group Edmond Spaho also didn’t offer a lot of clarifications to the media after meeting with the VC, simply underlining there shouldn’t be double standards.
“In this sense, we factually explained that no reform in Albania will succeed unless the ties of politics with organized crime are cut off,” Spaho said.
The Socialist representatives, on the other hand, appeared more satisfied by the meetings conducted with the VC representatives.
Head of the Laws Commission Ulsi Manja said they welcome the opinions of VC experts.
“Moreover, all the constitutional changes Albania has undertaken after the 90s, and here I refer to the new 1998 Constitution and the later constitutional changes in the context of the justice reform and the decriminalization law, have constantly been consulted and taken a friendly opinion from the Venice Commission,” Manja said.
The possibility of making the verification of politicians’ assets and their ties to the world of crime a reality is expected to be reviewed by the Venice Commission next month.
