No consensus for Penal Code

28/02/2012 15:15

What should never happen happened after four hours of harsh debates at
the Commission of Laws. The Penal Code amends concluded only with the
votes of the majority, although the amends were approved with consensus
during the last three weeks, with more than 20 hours of intensive public
discussions.

The statistics of the compromise hours don’t seem so valid any more. The parties found contradictions in the recent discussion amend, proposed by the Socialist Party, which was related with the penal punishment of the official statistic falsifications.

The majority opposed it since the beginning, with the argument that it is unnecessary, because the documents’ falsification is a penal act in the actual code, and that this was an Albanian invention that didn’t exist in any EU Penal Code.

But the Socialists insisted with their amends, arguing that this law prevents the eventual statistical falsification, which could damage Albania’s economy.

The debate for this point lasted more than 1 hour, even after the Socialists set as condition that without the approval of this amend, they would not vote the other consensual amends made so far, which was interpreted by the democrats as a premeditated action for refusing to give the consensus.

Fatmir Xhafa: We have raised a concern. We want to prevent the citizens from being victims of inaccuracy and dishonesty, by those who want to speculate for political interests. These are motives.

Ilir Rusmalji: The European Commission has noted that the statistics in Albania are poor and low leveled. The reaction to this is not imprisonment, but an administrative reaction for enriching the statistics.

Both Commission Chairmen found no compromise for the way how this amends could be discussed by other parties. The Democrats requested more time for reviewing the amends with experts and required to put it later for discussion, while the Socialists requested to discuss it with the Commission of Economy and Integration.

The conclusion was that there was no consensus in the last minute, even though there was a ray of hope in the morning, with the Socialists withdrawing 13 points from their suggestions, such as the amend for submitting the Council of Ministers under penal prosecution.

Fatmir Xhafa: If you want it this way, then do it this way. We are helping you to not build a wall between the consensuses. We will not vote this amend.

After Xhafa’s speech, the DP Chairman of the Commission of Laws started the voting procedure, which was only with the majority’s votes.

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