Today, December 24, the sixth member of the Constitutional Court, Përparim Kalo, was sworn in before President Ilir Meta.
Since the middle of 2018, the Constitutional Court has not functioning due to the vetting process and judicial reform. Its functioning was one of the 15 conditions laid down by the European Commission for EU accession.
The Constitutional Court should have nine members but it can function with just six. Therefore, it can be considered fully functional.
The issue is that the last appointments were made in violation of the law. As Exit has explained, the Constitution and the Law on the Constitutional Court states that three candidates must be proposed and considered at a time. This has not happened to mean that the appointment of the last members of the court could be considered unconstitutional.
Kalo is a lawyer and has worked in his law office since 1994.
Despite the seemingly irregular procedure in which members were appointed, the news has been welcomed by EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca, EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, and US Ambassador Yurri Kim.
Exit contacted the EU Delegation with questions regarding the possible unconstitutional process but has not yet received a response.
