In a public reaction on Tuesday, the Association states that the initiatives that have been sent for consultation by the Parliament risk not improving the legal framework, but undoing the achievements of justice reform to date.
Specifically, the association opposes a "transitional provision" of the draft that provides for the appointment of temporary presidents of courts or prosecutors' offices for a transitional period from the entry into force of this law until December 31, 2028.
For the National Association of Judges, the appointment of court presidents by the Assembly is an attempt to usurp the powers of the High Judicial Council and a violation of the constitutional principles of the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.
"Such a provision, first of all, attempts to usurp the power that the Constitution has given to the High Judicial Council in appointing court presidents," the public reaction states.
The association notes that the Constitution has given the KLGJ the powers to appoint, promote and transfer judges of all levels.
"Secondly, strangely, this provision extends only to courts of general jurisdiction and administrative courts and does not include special courts," the association's response further states.
And finally, the judges remind the Assembly that the legal initiative does not take into account the fact that the Supreme Court of Justice has approved the relevant normative act regarding the procedure for electing the presidents of the courts of first instance and appeal, an act which entered into force on January 1, 2026 and which precedes the opening of the competition for the positions of presidents in these courts.
"The Association calls on the Assembly not to attempt to violate the standards of the rule of law, damaging the achievements made through the establishment of new governing bodies of the judicial power, a power that is at the end of the reform process, and to take into consideration the guiding jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court," the judges' statement concludes.
In December, the Socialist Party (SP) returned to the attempt to amend the Justice Reform laws adopted in 2016 with two initiatives signed by MP Olsi Komici that affect the law "On the status of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania" and the law "On the governing bodies of the justice system".
He presented the initiatives to the Committee on Civic Initiatives, Cooperation and Institutional Oversight and to the Laws Committee, where, at the initiative of the chairman of the committee, Ulsi Manja, a request was made to suspend their consideration until a position was taken by the European Commission and the bodies of the justice system.
In addition to the provision opposed by the judges' association, the initiatives also foresee strengthening the criteria for verifying the assets and integrity of the candidates for the two governing councils coming from the legal profession and academia.
The proposals also fulfill a request from the Prosecutor General for a more active role in the process of selecting heads of prosecution offices and adding criteria for vetting candidates for these positions.
For magistrates seeking to be elected to head prosecutorial offices or courts, in addition to the vetting of assets and professional integrity, "current disciplinary measures" are added as an exclusion criterion from the competition.
The accompanying report of the draft laws emphasizes that the formulations came as a result of a long consultative process between the working group established in the Laws Committee in 2022 and reflect the comments of experts from international missions assisting the implementation of justice reform, such as the Delegation of the European Union and OPDAT.
The new provisions also aim to address the concerns of the High Inspector of Justice regarding the lack of interest of magistrates in applying for inspectorships. /BIRN/
