Who Is Number One Here, Or Who Will Control The Supreme Court?

By Jerina Zaloshnja
Late last Monday evening the Parliament dominated by the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha voted against the appointment of five members to the Supreme Court. According to the President ‘s Office, the five jurists who were to fill the vacancies at the Supreme Court met with all professional criteria and had clocked up outstanding experience in the community of legal experts. However, the political majority did not vote for the candidates decreed by the President on the grounds that the President failed to consult with the Assembly beforehand. The President himself stated that the rejection of his decrees was a political vote and the judges he proposed were executed politically. This development marks an initial, open clash between the Prime Minister and the President, a phenomenon noticed before in Albania. Premier Berisha built up a spirit of conflict and almost completely froze relations with former President Alfred Moisiu. Presumably, the election one year ago of the former Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party, Bamir Topi, to the president’s post excluded the possibility of any conflict with the Prime Minister. They both belong to the same party and the majority in the Parliament. It has, however, occurred once again! The Prime Minister and the President have “come to blows” over the Supreme Court, one of the most important institutions of the justice system. The President, who is also Chairman of the High Council of Justice, had decreed five new members to this Court to fill in the vacancies. The Constitution foresees that these decrees are voted by the Parliament. A month went by and that had not happened. During that time the Government and the President’s Office were engulfed in a vigorous debate. A month passed and those nominations to the Supreme Court were not discussed by the Parliament. According to the Parliament’s Speaker, that was based on the claim that the President had failed to consult the Parliament in the decision making process on the five candidates. Local experts claim it is the President’s right to decide and Parliament merely provides a formal approval. Otherwise, say the experts, it remains with the Prime Minister to appoint the judges.
But why did the majority controlled by Premier Berisha decide to vote against the five new proposed members to the Supreme Court decreed by the President?
The Parliament Speaker, as well as other top officials of the Democratic Party in power say the President should have first consulted with the Parliament. Is this the real reason behind this latest conflict between Berisha and the President, even though the latter comes from the same political party? Having posed that question, do we really believe that Dr. Berisha and Speaker Topalli are put out with President Topi for not having consulted with them before decreeing his candidates? Perhaps. In the Albanian political culture it is of the utmost importance who the Number One is. One governing lawmaker said that the President should have been far more cautious. Bamir Topi is officially Head of State but he must not neglect seeking advice and consultation with “The Doctor,” (Berisha). It is quite possible that this could be a reason as well. Nevertheless, the “negligence” President Topi is said to have shown by failing to consult with the Prime Minister is, in the final account, a very minor issue to create such a huge conflict. This leads us to presuppose that there is another even more convincing reason related not to the phenomenon but to the content, to the product – the Supreme Court. Is it that Dr. Berisha wants to find and to appoint himself the five new members to the Supreme Court? In other words, is Dr. Berisha trying to gain control of the Supreme Court? Three years ago Dr. Berisha came to office and one of his electoral promises, which very few understood at the time, was, “The state that the Socialists built is huge. I will build a small state.” Now, three years on, we are seeing that the small state Dr. Berisha promised is a reality. The state continues to shrink while Dr. Berisha’s government becomes much bigger. And when we say government we mean Dr. Berisha himself!