Speaker Meta on Top Story: “US Ambassador may be misinformed about Vetting Law”

Meta’s interview comes a few days after the heated debate generated between the US Ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu, and the Prosecutor General of Albania, Adriatik Llalla. The US Ambassador accused PG Llalla of trying to block the judiciary reform, and also declared that he was one of the Prosecutors whose US visa had been revoked, due to some valid suspicions.

The Prosecutor replied by launching harsh attacks against the US Ambassador, accusing him of trying to blackmail him and even other Prosecutors through the visa procedures, in an effort to meddle with the internal affairs of his institution.  

While the US State Department and the EU delegation in Albania both supported the US Ambassador, Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta had a meeting with Prosecutor General Llalla, and after that he held a press release, in which he stated that the Prosecutor had been respecting the law.

Tonight, on Top Channel’s “Top Story”, Ilir Meta underlined that there is only one Vetting Law, and that law is implemented in our country by Albanian institutions only. Foreign embassies, Meta said, have no role in it. Not even the US Embassy.

When asked about the declarations of the US Ambassador, Donald Lu, Meta said that if they had come from another country, would have been considered as totally unacceptable, and that no ambassador can replace the institutions of a country.

One of the confrontations between Llalla and Lu were about the Justice Appointment Council. Three out of nine members of this council had to come from the Prosecution General. The Prosecution had to bring several candidates who would have been selected by lottery. But the Prosecutor General brought only three candidates, avoiding this way the lottery.

This action made the US Ambassador accuse the Prosecutor General of trying to manipulate the judiciary reform. On that same day, Speaker Meta said that the Prosecution General had only three candidates that could fulfill the required criteria, and that’s why there were no others. Meta reiterated this opinion even tonight, by adding that the US Ambassador may be misinformed about the way how the candidates of the Justice Appointment Council are selected.

Meta also stated tonight that his declaration was not in support of the Albanian Prosecutor General, but he was simply making a clear transparency of the situation.

The Parliament Speaker also said that the US State Department had really issued a declaration in support of US Ambassador Donald Lu, but they had not comment the issue regarding the Justice Appointment Council, for which, Meta said, he was ready to discuss details in Washington.

The Parliament Speaker also said that some judges and prosecutors had been treated unfairly by the Embassy during their visa applications, and that collective punishments are never right.

The US and EU Ambassadors in Albania have been backing and also funding this very important and radical reform of our judiciary system. This is the biggest judiciary reform held in Albania since the fall of communism. During the past 26 years of pluralism and democracy, the judiciary has received more critics about corruption than any other sector, especially from citizens.

The reform aims to make a radical change, to bring trust on the judiciary by vetting every single judge and prosecutor through newly established institutions. The vetting process will also be monitored by international partners to increase its credibility, and every article was drafted in cooperation with their experts.

The judiciary reform has been of such importance, that it was also set as a crucial condition for Albania to fulfill before starting any EU accession negotiations.  Its implementation has been strongly urged by the US and EU partners, but it has also been opposed several times, with laws being challenged at the Constitutional Court, and several other delays.

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