Parliament Passes Justice Pay Law; Rama: No One Can Set Deadlines for Parliament

After a marathon session and debates lasting long hours, Albania’s Parliament approved in the early hours of the morning the draft law “On the status of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania, as amended.” The draft law, proposed by MPs Aulona Bylykbashi and Admir Kadeli, was approved with 84 votes in favor, 24 against, and 1 abstention.

The debate in Parliament focused particularly on the pay crisis in the justice system and the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision. In his remarks, Prime Minister Edi Rama dwelled on the issue of deadlines which, he said, cannot be imposed on Parliament by another power.

Speaking in Parliament, Rama said the majority is obliged to respect the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but rejected the idea that a court decision could dictate to Parliament how it should vote on a law.

“And this other thing: ‘Respect the decision of the Constitutional Court.’ Respect the Court’s decision? Of course, of course! But a Constitutional Court can never tell a legislator: ‘Raise your hand like this, because I decided so,'” he said.

The prime minister stressed that, in his view, in this case the Constitutional Court did not define the manner of voting but left room for legislative discretion. “And fortunately, in this case it did not say so. It left full discretion. As for the violation of the deadline, no deadlines are set for Parliament. That is another nonsense. No one can tell Parliament, except its own members, when it will convene and what it will convene for,” he said.

Rama cited as an example the debates held in Parliament on the agenda and rejected, in his view, the idea that another institution could determine when parliament should meet. “Four hours of debate take place here on the agenda. How does another power come out there and say: ‘You will convene by the 31st’? Because if you don’t convene by the 31st, on the 1st we will storm the doors of the Treasury. What is this?” Rama asked.

The prime minister also addressed claims that failure to respect a deadline could bring liability for the relevant institutions. Rama said liability can be held if there is a violation, but rejected the interpretation that such a deadline could automatically create a new competence for another power.