TIRANA, July 13 – The internationals’ role in the vetting process of the justice reform has deepened the divide between the ruling Socialists and the opposition Democrats with the latter claiming that their proposed decision-making role puts the country’s sovereignty at risk.
Albania’s opposition Democratic Party has offered an official response to the “hybrid” proposal made by Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, during her brief visit to Tirana. In a press statement issued Wednesday, Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha provided several arguments why the much deliberated process of performing a background check on judicial candidates must be done by Albanian officials rather than the international experts. The latest proposal made by the United States says that an Ad-Hoc parliamentary commission must do the vetting process on judicial candidates, but according to the opposition Democrats “the Venice Commission suggests that the commission is the body that reviews the candidates.” “The Venice Commission does not specifically talk about a vetting process for candidates so it is presumed that the commission is part of the process for the review of candidacies,” the statement read. “As such the vetting process is performed by an Albanian institution that responds to Albanian citizens, such as the Parliament. Vetting as part of the review process can be fully performed in a transparent manner by Albanian institutions under the strict supervision of the international community.”
The Democrats suggests that the international experts involved in the process can be supervisors with full access in the process and documents but with no democratic accountability, and nothing more since any additional involvement would be a sui generis case and an absolute precedent that has never happened in other countries with similar judicial problems such as Croatia or Romania.
The Democratic Party refusal to Nuland’s proposal caused disappointment among EU and U.S. officials in Albania. U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu said that “United States felt deeply disappointed over DP’s decision to reject the last proposal made by the U.S. in relation to the judicial reform.”
“Basha proposed something, while being perfectly aware of the conflict of interest and totally in discordance with the Venice Commission proposals. Negotiations with both pairs are still ongoing aiming to reach a consensus on the hybrid proposal,” Lu said in a press statement.
The EU Delegation to Albania also commented on DP’s rejection on the compromise proposal.
“The credibility of the judicial reform overall depends on the credibility of the vetting of judges and prosecutors. To guarantee this, a limited targeted role of the international community through the International Monitoring Operation (IMO) is crucial. This is fully in line with the Venice Commission Opinion that envisages this role for the International Monitoring Operation. The international community should provide strong monitoring to ensure the credibility of the process, including in the pre-vetting of the members of the vetting bodies, by providing negative recommendations as appropriate. The International Community has never suggested having any executive power since it is essential for the Albanian authorities to keep full ownership. Negotiations must come to a positive conclusion now,” the statement read.
At the end of the parliamentary group meeting, Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha underlined that the opposition will support broader competences for the IMO but disagrees with awarding the international experts constitutional competences. “If something goes wrong or right, the Albanian citizen ca not point the finger to the Prime Minister of Switzerland or Finland. There are no constitutional competences without constitutional accountability,” Basha said. In addition, he underlined that the DP did not reject the proposal, instead it believes that it pushes negotiations one step further away from the final deal. When asked to comment about Lu’s disappointment, Basha made the following statement: “The U.S. Ambassador has given an extraordinary contribution. I have given my own contribution. Friends are open to each other even when they fail to agree. We are dealing with a long process of negotiations. Do not create drama. We will continue to give our contribution. Sometimes we will receive well deserved praise, sometimes we will not. But we never take things personally”
The hybrid proposal was put to the desk of negotiations on Sunday during the visit of Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State. “In the last 24 hours, we have tabled a new proposal which endeavors to bridge the distances. This is a hybrid proposal that has taken ideas from opposition and majority and is in the line with Venice Commission recommendations. It is based on the very good, active listening that Ambassador Lu and his EU counterpart have been doing and it attempts to combine an appropriate level of international monitoring with a strong defense of Albanian sovereignty” ” she said.
Nuland argued that the proposal supported by Washington provides the international experts involved in the reform a suitable role in the monitoring process that does not violate Albania’s sovereignty. “On behalf of Washington and EU colleagues I urged Prime Minister Edi Rama and chairman of opposition Lulzim Basha to come together over the proposal. It is time to agree, the Albanian people are waiting,” Nuland underlined. She noted that “the justice reform is vitally important for the health and the democratic strength of this country.” “It will make an essential contribution to ending the culture of impunity and ensuring that Albania has a justice system that truly works for the people of this country.”
U.S. and EU experts have been directly involved in drafting the legislation, and the process has also been reviewed by the Venice Commission, a body of legal experts with the Council of Europe human rights group.
The Albanian parliament needs a two thirds majority to pass constitutional changes required for the justice reform on July st otherwise the country will not be able to launch accession talks with EU. The numbers however cannot be achieved without the opposition Democrats. These constitutional changes set up new regulations for the functioning of judiciary institutions. The sticking point revolves around the role of international monitors in the vetting process and whether the new laws will give political parties any power to make judicial appointments. The ruling Socialists want no party appointees, while the Democrats want some to limit government overreach. Recently, United States Ambassador Donald Lu urged the country’s political parties to reach a compromise on a judicial reform package, or for lawmakers to vote independently. If the package is approved on July 21st than the European Commission will have enough time to decide on launching membership negotiations with Albania. Any failure of the vote might cause hardships to the government, delay EU talks for another year or even trigger early elections although general elections will be held next year.
