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The Venice Commission has expressed its support for the extension of the Vetting during the plenary session held this Friday, emphasizing that all the conditions have been met.
Point 32 of the preliminary draft opinion published days ago states that: “The Venice Commission is of the opinion that the extension of the mandate of the KPC and the KP is in line with the standards”.
“The initiative aims to fulfill one of the goals of the Justice Reform, the creation of a body of judges and prosecutors with high ethical, moral and professional integrity, to guarantee the independence of the justice system and to restore public trust in institutions.
In drafting this initiative, the principles and provisions summarized in the Justice Reform Strategy, the will of the legislator in the constitutional changes of 2016, as well as the recommendations of the Venice Commission in its opinions issued regarding the Justice Reform have been taken into account. . the process and process of re-evaluating judges and prosecutors.
The process of re-evaluating judges and prosecutors, commonly known as the Vetting process, is one of the pillars of the Judicial Reform provided for in the constitutional and legal provisions; it is an extraordinary and transient measure, but necessary for the independence and efficiency of justice. Vetting is an essential element in guaranteeing a visible level of integrity of judges, which creates the basis for restoring public confidence in the work of justice. In 2016, the Albanian Parliament approved a series of constitutional amendments that paved the way for a comprehensive justice reform. The Constitutional Amendments affect one third of the Constitution and radically redesigned the Albanian justice system “, is written in the preliminary draft opinion of the first few days.
The Socialist members of the Legislative Council of the Assembly decided to turn to the Venice Commission for their amendments to amend the Constitution in order to extend the mandate of the Vetting institutions, until the end of 2024.
We recall that in addition to the Socialists, the request for extension of the mandate of the Independent Qualification Commission and the Public Commissioner, has also come from representatives of the European Commission and vetting institutions in a hearing with the Council for Legislation in the Albanian Parliament.
Maciej Popowski, chairman of the IOM International Monitoring Operations Board at the European Commission, said in an online link that he supported the assembly’s initiative to amend the Constitution in order to extend the mandate of vetting institutions.
He described the justice reform as one of the biggest reforms that Albania had undertaken to open negotiations with the European Union.
“The IOM recommends extending the work to have a successful conclusion of the justice reform process“, Said Popowski, arguing that the current Vetting bodies have the experience and functional structures to do so.
“The extension allows the KPC to finalize these issues and the work that has been done so far not to be interrupted and to start everything from the beginning.“, He added, promising that the IOM monitoring will continue on the basis of the current practice.
The Socialists have demanded the extension of the mandate of the bodies of the process of verification of official figures, as on June 17, 2022 the mandate of the Independent Qualification Commission and the Public Commissioner ends.
The Constitution provides that when the mandate of the KPC and public commissioners ends, unfinished re-evaluation issues are reviewed by the High Judicial Council and the High Prosecution Council.
In order to extend the term of office of the two new bodies of justice, the socialist majority also needs the votes of the opposition, as it needs 94 votes.
The opinion of the Venice Commission is not binding and it is up to the members of parliament to vote on whether or not to extend the mandate of the institutions in question.
Draft opinion of the Venice Commission
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