The Albanian parliament has launched the procedure to replace former Constitutional Court member Fatos Lulo, bringing the court one step closer to being functional.
On Wednesday, the parliament launched the call for applications, which will remain open until October 13.
Judge Lulo, whose term in office had already ended, was dismissed by the vetting commission in March 2018.
The Justice Appointments Council (KED) has to receive the list of candidates from parliament, evaluate their applications, list them according to their score and send the list with three candidates to the parliament, which has to choose one.
Taking into account that the current KED has not prepared a list to fill any of the five empty seats in the Constitutional Court since it was formed in January 2020, as well as the length of procedures, it seems highly improbable that this court becomes functional within 2020.
This is despite repeated calls to the Albanian institutions by the representatives of the EU and US to have the court established within this year.
The Constitutional Court has only four of the necessary nine members. It needs at least five members to reach a decision-making quorum.
Minister of Justice Etilda Gjoni promised that it will become functional within this year.
