Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted sharply to the request of some judges for a salary increase, calling it absurd and an attempt to impose themselves on other powers. In a live video on Facebook, Rama said that judges today "are their own god and their own stick" and that their reasoning leaves much to be desired.
He stressed that the current salaries of judges in Albania are equal to those in Greece and higher than in Montenegro and North Macedonia, while the justice reform has already guaranteed high salaries and independence of decision-making. According to Rama, the request for an increase from 1,800 to 3,000 euros is unjustified.
The Prime Minister clarified that SPAK has not joined this initiative, which he positively assessed. Finally, Rama expressed the hope that the Constitutional Court will not approve the request, calling it a “stain of shame” for the country.
statement
The GJK published a few days ago the recording of the session where judges, two associations of judges and those with legal problems, asked the GJK to increase their salaries. Now, if you listen to that recording published from the session, you feel in great difficulty thinking that these are the people who judge and give justice, while the thread of logic of those who faced the GJK leaves much to be desired. This is not a question of people. In Albania, the salaries of judges today, as they are, are the same as the salaries of judges in Greece and are twice as high as the salaries of judges in North Macedonia and Montenegro.
They raised them above the president and above everyone else to give a signal of the will to have not only an independent judiciary, but also to the judges to feel respected, receiving super salaries, this means let's do it now forever. So Albania should remain the only country forever where judges receive higher salaries than others, above the president. What do the judges demand? 1800 euro increase for the first instance judge, 2000 euro increase for the Appeals Court judge and about 3000 thousand euro increase for SPAK judges, plus BKH. It must be said in fact that SPAK has not joined this absurd initiative and this gives them respect. Here we are. We are in a situation where judges want to impose themselves on the parliament, on the government and the other two branches of government and want to receive salaries according to their own opinion.
May the Constitutional Court not leave this great stain of shame on Albania and make us seek other remedies.
