The bill, which has wide support, has become a symbol of how the political impasse is leaving the parliament’s work undone.
TIRANA, March 10 – When the ruling Democrats decided earlier this week that they wanted to test the Socialists’ willingness to really do business in parliament, they placed the approval of the new Administrative Courts System on the agenda.
The Socialists — who say they won’t participate in anything that doesn’t involve investigating allegation of electoral fraud — simply walked away.
And so, the Administrative Courts System bill, which needs two thirds of members of parliaments to vote in order for it to pass, went back to the shelf.
The new court system has the support of the business and international communities and the civil society, so it has become a symbol of how the political impasse is leaving the parliament’s work undone.
For more than a year, nearly 30 business associations have lobbied in favor of the law, because getting administrative courts to start functioning is one of the most pressing issues for Albania’s business community.
The administrative courts, which make it easier for companies to solve disputes with the government when it comes to taxes and other issues, were supposed to be approved through a law before the summer elections. But approval was delayed because the opposition and ruling parties did not vote for it in time before parliament was dissolved for new elections.
The new draft law is now ready to go, and the ruling parties say they’ll vote for it, but the opposition must vote on it too before it can pass.
The passage of the bill would pave the way for the establishment of the administrative courts system, an institution which Albanian businesses have been demanding for six years.
And the non existence of administrative courts leads to higher costs of doing business, Ambassador Helmuth Lohan, the head of the European Commission Delegation to Albania, said earlier this month at a conference in Tirana.
“The government is ready to adopt the required legislation; however, this requires a qualified majority in Parliament – which can not be obtained as long as the elected Socialist Party members do not take up their seats in Parliament,” he added.
The administrative court draft law includes a series of important reforms that will significantly improve and modernize the way administrative issues are handled by the Albanian system of justice, according to its supporters in the business community.
The draft law provides equal positions between the state and its citizens in disputes over administrative issues, ending the supremacy of public institutions in courts when it comes to administrative cases.
