TIRANA, Jan. 29 – The main opposition Democratic Party has cast serious doubt on its participation in the justice system reform, which considered by the government as the top priority in parliament in the next six months.
The governing Socialist Party-led coalition has set the reform as a top priority during this parliamentary session ending in late July, as it has always been the post-communist country’s Achilles’ heel during the last two and a half decades, mentioned regularly as a problem in international reports about Albania.
The justice system suffers mainly from corruption and the lack of professionalism, critics say.
The Democrats made it clear Wednesday that they will take part in the parliamentary reform created from the Socialist-led coalition only if they have an equal number of members, co-chairmanship and the right of veto.
Their conditions led to a further delay in the start of work as Socialists mull the proposal.
The Socialists have repeatedly said that the current situation was created by the Democrats, who had been in power for eight years until 2013.
The country’s president, Bujar Nishani, elected by the Democrats, is also head of the High Council of Justice, the justice system executive, which is often blamed of putting political affiliation and corruption ahead of the professional nomination of the judges and prosecutors in the post. Prosecutors are an independent institution accountable to the parliament, but they are also members of the HCJ.
The Democrats also threatened Wednesday that unless the Socialists took into account what they are saying, including their draft laws on lowering the taxes on the fuel price, they will hold nationwide protests.
On Thursday, a former Democratic Party leader, Sali Berisha, said early elections might be needed to address the situation.
The Socialists won the general election in 2013 in a landslide and currently hold a strong majority in parliament.
But the mediation between the two parliamentary groupings seems to be now the main focus of the work of the Venice Commission, asked from the country’s political actors to assist in the justice reform.
