TIRANA, April 18 – The ad hoc committee on justice reform resumed its proceedings last Friday with the discussion of the ten objections raised by the opposition. Parties have found compromise on several issues and have agreed to continue discussions after foreign experts together with experts from respective sides bring proposals on the disputed issues. The resumption of work on justice reform was greeted by the U.S. embassy and the EU delegation in Tirana.
Talks on the justice reform had been halted for over two weeks, after the opposition conditioned further political debate with the respecting of Constitutional Court rulings.
Last week, parliament voted in favor of sending to the Constitutional Court for review the validity of mandates for two Socialist MPs, which was a key request set by the opposition to resume talks on the reform.
After the vote, this obstacle was overcome and the opposition’s representatives returned in the ad hoc parliamentary committee.
Both the committee chairman Socialist MP Fatmir Xhafaj and the opposition’s representative Eduard Halimi told the media the parties are close to reaching consensus on a series of issues, especially those dealing with special anticorruption prosecution which will have under its jurisdiction the National Bureau of Investigations, and also the vetting process.
However, parties were split over the nomination of the new institutions with the opposition claiming that the check and balance principle is lacking in this aspect.
Parties have agreed that experts from the American mission OPDAT and the EU mission Euralius together with party experts bring proposals to address the concerns raised, which will then be submitted once more to political debate.
The ad hoc committee on justice reform resumed work about two weeks ago and parties reached consensus on four of the issues raised by the opposition. Afterwards, the opposition abandoned political talks on the reform demanding that the Constitutional Court issues a ruling on the validity of their mandates on conflict of interest grounds. The children of the two representatives, according to the opposition, have obtained public tenders and this in their view constitutes conflict of interest.
The EU delegation in Tirana and the U.S. embassy welcomed the resumption of dialogue in the parliamentary ad hoc committee on justice reform.
“We call on all political parties to listen to the 91 percent of Albanians who support this important reform, by bringing it to successful conclusion without delays or obstacles. All parties have a role in the process and bear a crucial responsibility for reaching an agreement,” said the EU Delegation and the U.S. embassy in Tirana in a joint statement.
The press release was referring to a recent poll which showed that an overwhelming majority of citizens support the need for reform in the country’s judicial system.
The survey, conducted by the Institute for Development Research and Alternatives, revealed that 91 percent of those surveyed backed the justice reform with 67 percent responding they “fully supported” it regardless of their political affiliation.
