Judiciary asking for more independence

TIRANA, Feb. 9 – The Albanian courts need to be financially independent of the executive. That was the conclusion stressed Monday at a meeting of the courts held in the capital, Tirana.
The court administration and judges said that the income they collect from different processes should be used and spent by the courts in order to upgrade their infrastructure.
Head of the Tirana district court Artan Zeneli asked for more investment in his institution, which is the main one covering a significantly higher number of cases compared to all the other counterparts.
The Tirana court covered 30,000 cases in 2009.
He said that the court handed over to the government 120 million lek but got only 15 million lek for investment. They asked that the courts be self-financed.
Corruption in the judiciary is one of the main shortcomings and obstacles to the country’s integration efforts into the European Union.