TIRANA, Feb. 28 – The Legislative Council didn’t approve the opposition’s Democratic Party (DP) request this week to constitutional amendments for the general prosecutor position which caused debate in the country last December by eight votes against it.
The request will now be passed on to a plenary seance which will take into consideration reports issued by the parties involved, including the minority report.
In order for the DP’s – which is also supported by the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) – amendments to the constitution to be approved, a â…” majority is necessary, equal to 94 votes.
The DP’s proposal mainly aims to sack temporary General Prosecutor Arta Marku, who the opposition says was unconstitutionally named in the parliamentary session of Dec. 18, 2017 for not going through the judicial vetting reform.
“The GP’s mandate must be cut off. No one knows if the actual GP successfully passed the judicial vetting,” DP member Oerd Bylykbashi told local media.
The DP’s solution to the problem of a temporary GP after former chief prosecutor’s Adriatik Llalla term came to an end last year still rests in the establishment of the High Judicial Council, which can appoint a GP after all judges and prosecutors have gone through the judicial reform.
“This a test that will determine whether the majority wants an independent judiciary or not,” Bylykbashi added.
Socialist Party MP Ulsi Manja, however, said the current GP was selected according to the constitution and that the majority is not opposing the constitution at any point.
“The parliament is in line with the constitution and the law. The constitution’s transitory disposition doesn’t have a solution to the vacancy created at the end of the general prosecutor’s term like it has for other constitutional bodies,” Manja said.
When Albania’s ruling SP approved Arta Marku as temporary chief prosecutor last December, the opposition protested both inside and outside the parliament hall, with DP lawmakers even throwing smoke bombs while the parliamentary session was taking place.
