Even though President Ilir Meta refused to decree the Law “concerning juridical aid and court tariffs” earlier this week and sent it back to Parliament, the majority members of the Legal Affairs Commission in Parliament refused to reevaluate the law.
The law would disproportionally increase the legal tariffs for appeals to such an extent, that the access of citizens to the judicial system would be compromised, in violation of article 43 of the Constitution, which stipulates that “everyone has the right to appeal against a court verdict at a higher court.”
President Meta argues that the absence of a rigorous study substantiating the tariff increase is one of the reasons to return the law to Parliament:
First, the level of tariffs envisioned in this law has been set in absence of a rigorous study and, in comparison with the current tariffs, shows a drastic and immediate increase of the tariffs, which present a high risk to make the access to justice more difficulties for the social classes in need.
According to the law proposed by the government, the tariffs for an appeal would increase from a fixed tariff of 200 lekë to a variable tariff between 2,000 and 10,000,000 lekë
