Appointments to KED, Meta request to the General Director of Cadastre: You are hindering the process

Meta’s full letter:

I am familiar with the letter no. prot. 475, dated 2.6.2022, of the Judicial Appointments Council (KED), addressed to the State Cadastre Agency, for the information of the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers and the Cadastre Supervisory Board.

This letter was addressed to the President of the Republic and the Assembly of Albania, who according to the Constitution, are also nominating bodies for the procedures announced for application from January-February 2022 by these bodies and which are currently being developed by the Nomination Council in Justice for the selection, nomination and appointment / selection of candidates for the new members of the Constitutional Court, who will fill the vacancies created due to the end of the mandate of some of the judges.

As you may have been informed, currently the Judicial Appointments Council is working to verify the candidacies for filling the 4 (four) vacancies in the Constitutional Court, these vacancies announced by the President, the Assembly and the Supreme Court and which belong for appointment to these bodies.

Exactly regarding the progress of the procedures for the verification of candidates by KED, it has been identified as a very problematic issue, the obstacle that is being created by not providing the information required by KED, by some local directorates of ACA, under your direct supervision.

Problems referred to in letter no. prot. 475, dated 2.6.2022, of the Judicial Appointments Council, is a repeated situation, of 4 years that this body has been functioning (KED 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). In all previous processes there have been delays in providing information by local directorates of ACA, or former IPROs in the districts, and this is repeated this year, turning into a worrying phenomenon the fact that public institutions , currently under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister, do not reflect the same will and administrative practice, and do not show cooperation in a timely manner by not fulfilling the obligations arising from law enforcement, but also from inter-institutional cooperation, especially in such important processes for the country. , such as the verification of candidates for judges in the Constitutional Court.

The Judicial Appointments Council, in order to verify and evaluate the submitted candidacies, has repeatedly addressed an official letter to the State Cadastre Agency since March 2022, requesting data on real estate and real rights. registered in the immovable property registers of candidates who have expressed interest in being appointed / elected as members of the Constitutional Court and persons related to them, because some local directorates of the State Cadastre Agency have not yet sent a response.

In its last meetings of 31.05.2022, KED has discussed this issue by devoting a special item to the agenda. At this meeting, KED finally decided that “[…] to redirect with a letter to the State Cadastre Agency and to recall the constitutional obligation to make available to KED the required information within 7 (seven) days. Also, this communication with the head of the State Cadastre Agency, it was decided to inform the President of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, the Assembly of the Republic, as well as the Board of Cadastre Administration. “ [1]

This decision of KED was supported and requested to proceed without any delay, even by the representatives of the President of the Republic who participate in these meetings. Concerns about possible delays that KED may face in the process of verifying candidates for members of the Constitutional Court, have been presented to the Council by representatives of the President of the Republic in several meetings throughout this year (2022).

In the meeting of KED dated 31.05.2022 was also discussed the concrete local directorates that did not bring the required information[2]while many others (about 40) had fulfilled their legal obligation and forwarded the information required by KED.

In the conditions when most of the local offices have returned answers and only some of them still do notit is clear that there is no objective obstacle to this non-response, but it is obvious that these offices either do not have the knowledge of law enforcement, or do not have the will to evaluate and support this process so important for the country, as a Fully functional Constitutional Court.

Based on the history of past procedures developed in KED (during 2019, 2020 and 2021), or during 2022, any obstacles in returning responses directly causes the blocking of the process of verification of candidacies by the KED, causing a delay in the process of verification and filling of vacancies in the Constitutional Court.

In the conditions when even after this repeated request of KED for information, the answer will not be returned within the deadline set by KED (deadline ending on 10.6.2022), any delay will be considered as intentional activity, which already proves any suspicion that this blocking activity is done to postpone in time the process of verification, scoring and ranking of candidates for members of the Constitutional Court, beyond July 24, 2022[3]in violation of any legal deadline.

In order not to prove the conviction in this regard, you need your commitment as General Director, but also of the local structures of the State Cadastre Agency to address this issue urgently by forwarding the exhaustive information to the KED, offering cooperation with this body ( KED), as well as taking measures to take responsibility for these delays to date in providing the required information.

It is unacceptable that most of the Local Directorates of ACA have fulfilled the legal obligation to KED, while a very small part is reluctant to respond by blocking the whole process.

Judicial Appointments Council should in no way be hindered from third institutions from which it provides information for the verification of candidates, regardless of their number, causing the pace dictated by the Constitution and the deadlines set by law no. 8577/2000 “On the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court”, as amended, as well as law no. 115/2016 “On the governing bodies of the justice system”, as amended, at the conclusion of a process of vital importance for the country.

Even less, this should not happen, in the conditions when for a process that takes place by an independent constitutional body such as KED, obstacles are caused by bodies directly dependent on the executive (Prime Minister).

As President of the Republic, I will continue to stand ready to help overcome any obstacles that independent institutions may encounter in fulfilling these tasks.

Attached, I forward to you once again the letter no. prot. 475, dated 2.6.2022, of the Judicial Appointments Council, addressed to you as the General Director of ACA.

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