At a press conference on Friday, where he presented existing legislation on construction and territory management, repeating old and new promises to eradicate "cancers" and the like, Prime Minister Edi Rama insisted on avoiding the court as a controller of decisions of institutions subordinate to the executive.
“Another measure taken is that administrative and judicial appeals do not suspend the execution of the final decision of the authority responsible for territorial development,” Rama said. “An important measure, because there has been a lot of speculation and abuse,” he added.
The Prime Minister then referred at length to judicial decisions that he described as abusive, claiming that verbal attacks on judges were the only option, although not normal.
"How is a security measure taken for illegal construction? Can you tell me? What security measure can you take for illegal construction? What will the court judge for illegal construction? And the only reason in this case is that it is not only a public interest, but it is also personal in terms of the relationship with citizens and in terms of the dignity of the entire government," he emphasized.
Magistrates, lawyers and opposition representatives see the head of the executive's statement as alarming and a step towards authoritarianism. Others told BIRN that it was rhetoric and propaganda and could not be implemented.
A judge, speaking on condition of anonymity, told BIRN that if this proposal were implemented, it would invalidate court decisions and make them abstract.
"First, the judicial path remains abstract, because the right violated by the decisions of (e.g.) IKMT is never repaired," he said.
The magistrate told BIRN that this could also weigh on the state budget in the future.
"Second, in the event that the decisions are rendered invalid by the court, in the circumstances where the item has been destroyed, individuals receive compensation that severely burdens the state budget," he said.
Not all jurists agree on the impact of the government's decision to remove security measures on issues related to territorial control.
Lawyer Ervin Metalla says he did not see the implementation of such a proposal as possible.
"I have the impression that it's not a question of not being able to take measures to secure a lawsuit, that this can't happen," he said.
"The suspension by judicial decision of an administrative act, within the framework of a measure to secure a lawsuit, cannot be prohibited," Metalla added.
He said that if such a decision were made, it would have constitutional implications, but added that it sounded more like propaganda to him.
"So, the appeal itself does not suspend the execution, but not the intervention of the court with a suspension decision, as a measure to secure the lawsuit. So far, in my opinion, there is nothing new, beyond the propaganda as if a revolution is taking place," he said.
For some time now, the prime minister has reacted with annoyance to court decisions that, according to him, were in violation of the law and that have stopped processes undertaken by institutions subordinate to the government.
Rama also insisted at the press conference that these decisions were, according to him, contrary to the law and that they challenged the government or made it look bad in front of the citizens. “Now what do I do? I should stop, I should not talk at all and let them continue to stick with the idea that they gave me the vote, 83 mandates, to continue to stick with that occupier there who goes and arrests a judge and the completely unrelated judge takes security measures at 8 in the morning,” the prime minister said.
During the press conference, Prime Minister Edi Rama dodged questions about whether inspectorates and territorial control authorities, an institution he also blamed for the situation with illegal construction, could be blindly trusted. Rama dismissed the possibility that arbitrary actions by inspectorates could have costs for the budget or citizens.
Otherwise, opposition representatives see the prime minister's proposal as another step towards authoritarianism, which, according to them, endangers the rights of citizens.
"If an administrative decision is implemented immediately without waiting for the court, then the citizen is deprived of the only opportunity for effective protection against state arbitrariness," said Jorida Tabaku, a member of parliament from the Democratic Party.
"The prime minister sells this as a measure against abuses, but in fact it is another authoritarian step that limits citizens' rights," she added.
Tabaku said that Rama's government behaved differently with the weak and differently with the strong, and emphasized that these were populist actions that violated the rights guaranteed in the Constitution and the European Charter of Human Rights.
"Today, under the guise of populism, in the name of community, individual rights are being curtailed," Tabaku said.
Joint Movement MP, Redi Muçi, said that the proposal is an alarm bell that leaves entire families waiting for legalization without protection, while raising doubts that the measure could be used to create new construction sites.
"Edi Rama seeks to remove any legal or administrative obstacles to the demolition of houses in this category in order to open new construction sites for projects designed by construction oligarchs close to him," he stressed./Reporter.al
