Four days after the unconstitutional decision of Parliament to send the two lists with vetting institution applicants and the recommendations of the International Monitoring Operation (ONM) back to the National Ombudsman for an additional 7-day application period, the website of the National Ombudsman still doesn’t mention the reopening of the application process.
According to sources close to National Ombudsman Igli Totozani, the reason is that the National Ombudsman is not constitutionally allowed to open the sealed envelopes containing the ONM recommendations. And without these recommendations, the Ombudsman will not be able to request the additional information from the 92 candidates who were disqualified on the basis of missing documentation, as requested by Parliament.
The National Ombudsman will allegedly reopen the application procedure only after Parliament has opened the sealed envelopes and makes the recommendations of the ONM public.
However, in order to open the sealed envelopes, Parliament first needs to install the ad-hoc committee that is charged with preparing the final list of qualifying candidates. And this is exactly what it postponed on Monday.
So it appears that the vetting ball is once again in the Parliament’s court.
