TIRANA, June 30 – The ruling majority has decided to go ahead with its plans on voting the much-rumored justice reform by the end of July despite no consensus with the opposition and lacking the necessary votes for the constitutional amendments.
The Conference of Parliamentary Chairmen has approved a motion to include the justice draft reform in the three week calendar of the Assembly ahead of the summer break on vote it on July 21.
The opposition Democratic Party and its allies have opposed the move, arguing that consensus is required for the seven bylaws associated with the country’s most important reform. The chairman of Albania’s opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha reiterated Thursday that the opposition will not withdraw from its terms regarding the implementation of recommendation 88 of the Venice Commission for all four institutions in the package of amendments.
Earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu criticized the chairman of the Democratic Party saying that during negotiations for the justice reform, Basha has “always found something to reject.” “Three times since May 4, the United States and the European Union offered reasonable compromise proposals. The majority accepted these proposals. Mr. Basha always found something to reject. I think the Albanian people are tired of their politicians playing games. If the opposition and government want to make a deal, we have offered three compromise solutions that are fully consistent with paragraphs 61 and 88 of the Venice Commission Final Opinion. Politicians don’t need to take our ideas and suggestions, but they do need to find a compromise,” Ambassador Lu said in an open address to the young people of Albania.
Basha admitted that he has received proposals delivered by the United States of America but the drafts according to him avoided recommendations made by the Venice Commission. “I have received the proposals. Such proposals may have offered the 3/5 or 2/3 vote mechanism but on the other hand they favored a mechanism which awards the government total control and excludes the opposition from every role. As such these proposals cannot be reasonable,” Basha said.
The opposition leader recalled that the international community has urged the government to approve the reform with consensus and not by trafficking votes. Basha said that he is engaged in dialogue with important actors in Washington, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Rome and London. “The government of Albania was told to not blackmail and traffic votes, and that consensus is the only way to attain a sustainable judiciary reform, which serves the citizens and not the government,” Basha said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at U.S. Congress, Dana Rohrabacher, and congressmen David Jolly and Robert Aderholt have addressed a special letter to the U.S. State Secretary, John Kerry calling for the fulfillment of the opposition’s request for the justice reform. In their letter, the congressmen call for the adoption and implementation of recommendation 88 of the Venice Commission as the only solution that can guarantee a successful reform in justice sector. The opposition said the letter represents a special contribution in offering Albanians an independent justice system based on the recommendations of the Venice Commission, which makes sure that the justice system will not be captured by the ruling majority. “We hope that the engagement of U.S. congressmen will encourage the majority to unblock the justice reform and choose the solution proposed by the Venice Commission in recommendation 88,” Basha said.
“[PM] Edi Rama should give up on his efforts to control the judiciary system and agree to a consensus for justice reform. This is the only way to offer citizens the justice that they want, a judiciary which punishes crime and corruption,” he added.
The issue of nominations in judges and prosecutors is dividing the ruling majority and opposition apart. Recommendation 88 of the Venice Commission stipulates that if “the parties to the political process do not agree on the qualified majority required to elect lay members of the High Judicial Council, High Prosecutorial Council, Independent Qualification Commissions and Specialized Qualification Chamber, they may opt for a proportionate system guaranteeing the opposition a representation within those collective bodies, or any other appropriate model which would secure the opposition a certain influence in the election process.”
This recommendation means that the opposition must be represented in the appointment of these candidacies, while it proposes a certain appointment formula and suggests the application of others with the sole condition that they guarantee the real participation of the opposition in the appointment process. The so called mechanism of “reserved seats” guarantees that the members of the four institutions mentioned above must have their seats reserved in a proportional manner between the ruling majority and the opposition. This means that some of the members must be appointed from the candidates suggested by the ruling majority and some by the opposition based on their representation in parliament.
