Judicial Reform and Process of Vetting in Albania: an Effective Project or an Unsuccessful Experiment
Judicial Reform and Process of Vetting in Albania: an Effective Project or an Unsuccessful Experiment

Author(s): Denitsa Dimitrova
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Public Law, Sociology of Law
Published by: Университет за национално и световно стопанство (УНСС)
Keywords: Albania; judicial reform; vetting; Independent Qualification Commission
Summary/Abstract: Since Albania was granted candidate status in June 2014, the EU imposed a numberof conditions to the country that it must fulfill to open accession negotiations. Over the past fouryears the Albanian government has achieved some success, but the process of reforming the judicial system is still a major obstacle for the integration process. Under intense pressure from theUS and the EU, the opposition Democratic Party and the government led by the Socialist Partyare mutually agreeing (July 2016) on the approval of a package of changes in Judicial reform.Despite the fact that Albania’s parliament accepts these changes with consensus, the re-evaluationof judges and prosecutors, known as Vetting process is considered of crucial importance to thepolitical future of the country and has sparked heated debate and controversial views on the political arena in Albania. Government claims the verification process will pave the way for talks with the EU, while the opposition warns that the new rules will affect judiciary appointments and challenge the credibility of the new institutions. The present study aims at taking a deep look at theProcess of Vetting in Albania. It starts by giving a brief chronology, then outlines the new majorjudicial institutions and reviews the latest data (as of July 2018) from Independent QualificationCommission. Also some of the major problems in judicial reform are reviewed before drawingsome conclusions. The possibility of making political decisions, contrary to the Constitution andlaws of the country, most likely will mark negatively the whole judicial reform.

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