Judicial Conference law

The debates started after the Minister of Justice, Eduard Halimi, admitted that this law has been much delayed in Parliament, since it was rejected by the Constitutional Court in 2008.

Halimi blamed the opposition for this delay, when it boycotted or was not ready to give consensus for the qualified majority laws. This reasoning was rejected by the Socialists, who blamed the opposition for the delay. The government submitted the draft to parliament only one month earlier. The draft sets the new regulations for the Judiciary Conference, an institution that elects nine member of the High Council of Justice. Despite this political debate, the opposition showed its readiness to give its consensus in principle, warning that they would request amends and hear the interest groups.

These request found understanding from he majority, which wants to prove the law within this session.

“We are in favor of this initiative. The law has some problems, on my point of view. What I want to say is that we don’t reject this project and the good intention of this initiative. We have asked it long ago. As representative of the SP Parliamentary Group and vice chairman of this commission, I have made several public appeals for bringing this law on the table. It is important to pass a law, but it is more important to pass a good law. And a good law needs its time and process”, declared the vice chairman of the Commission, Fatmir Xhafa.

“I would appreciate if the opposition     would be ready to open way to the discussions of this draft-law rather than killing it without it is even born. If this law has been delayed so much, because of us, the opposition, the majority or historical events, independent from us, then we have no other solution but to make our duty with urgency and pass the law”, Rusmali declared.

The draft law for the Judicial Conference, planned in cooperation with EURALIUS, according to the government, brings important novelties. First of all, the representation with delegation of the vote, as it was in the past law, will turn into direct vote of every judge of the Albanian Republic for electing the nine members of the High Council of Justice. There will be still nine judges, but the biggest representation will come from the judges of the first degree, with 5 members at the HCJ. The Court of Appeal will have three and the Supreme Court one.

The draft law also resolves the conflict of interest of the judges who are HCJ members, but according to this draft, approved through Constitutional principles, the member judges of the HCJ will not be able to promote themselves in the judicial system while they are HCJ members.

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