The opposition parties PD and LSI have decided to block the last parliamentary session before summer recess today because of the “scandalous” condition of the justice reform, which has led to a Constitutional Court without quorum and a paralyzed High Court.
Meanwhile, the new institutions of the reform, several of which should have been installed, according to the Constitution, in February 2017, have still not been formed due to the slow progress of the vetting, caused by a late start and budgetary cuts of 40% enacted by the government in September 2017, despite the protests of the opposition.
The ensuing legal vacuum has led to the installation of an unconstitutional Temporary General Prosecutor, who, again unconstitutionally, has in turn installed several Temporary Prosecutors, a function that has no formal legal status, even though it has been adopted by the vetting commission.
On the agenda for the parliamentary session today were 10 draft laws, including the amendment to the so-called Status Law that would allow applications to the School of Magistrates to be opened and transfer the competence to nominate graduates to the magistrature to the High Council of Justice (KLD) and Temporary General Prosecutor Arta Marku. Both are claimed by the opposition to be under control of the Rama government. The same amendment failed to pass on July 10.
If the amendment, which needs a 3/5 majority to pass, again fails to be passed, no new students will be able to enroll in the School of Magistrates in September, which in turn will mean that no new judges and prosecutors will be available once the vetting has finished.
In other words, we are faced with a potential collapse of the entire justice system. It is unlikely that the opposition will be willing to lend a hand to a government that ever since the start of the reform has been unwilling to engage with the opposition, pushed through several bylaws unilaterally, and nominated – with support of the internationals – its own people at key positions in the justice system during this “transitory” period.
At the same time, the Socialist Party refuses to arrive at any form of compromise. Legal Affairs Commission chair Ulsi Manja (PS) stated:
There will be no dialog under conditions to return to July 2016 to undo the justice reform and there vetting, forget it because there isn’t.
