Justice institutions snub Rama’s roundtable, Prime Minister’s Office responds

After justice institutions declined to take part in the roundtable called by Prime Minister Edi Rama to discuss magistrates’ salaries, the Prime Minister’s Office issued an official response, expressing readiness to continue the dialogue.

The High Court, the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO) and the judges’ associations argued that the Constitutional Court’s ruling should be awaited first, as the new salary law has been challenged before that court.

In the response, signed by the Secretary General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Elsonida Rama, the request to postpone the meeting is said to be understood, while stressing that inter-institutional dialogue remains important.

“We understand this request, although we assess that dialogue and inter-institutional cooperation between the various actors of the justice system remains important and, in principle, independent of other processes that may be unfolding in parallel,” the response states.

The Prime Minister’s Office also announced it remains open to setting a new date for the meeting.

Meanwhile, the government warned that work on drafting the new salary law will continue starting tomorrow. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, a general presentation of the draft had been prepared for discussion at the planned roundtable.

“Starting tomorrow, we will continue work on drafting the new salary law, on which a general presentation had also been prepared, with the aim of presenting it as part of the joint discussion and dialogue during the meeting,” the letter states.

So, despite the postponement of the roundtable, the Prime Minister’s Office signals that the process of drafting the new legal framework for magistrates’ salaries will continue, while a new date for consultations with justice institutions remains to be agreed.