The issue of salaries in the justice system has clashed opposition and majority representatives during the meeting of the Conference of Presidents.
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The head of the PD parliamentary group, Gazment Bardhi, criticized the Assembly for not implementing a decision of the Constitutional Court.
On the other side, the head of the Socialist parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, stated that the decision has been respected and that the authority to set salaries belongs to Parliament.
According to sources for Top Channel journalist Elda Menga, Bardhi addressed the Assembly Speaker, Niko Peleshi, accusing him of not respecting the Constitution.
“Today the courts are in collapse precisely because you do not respect the Constitution. There is a decision of the Constitutional Court on judges’ salaries and you do not deal with that issue. For you, the Constitution does not matter. There is a decision of the Legislation Council to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court, but you do not act. The consequences are that judges are without salaries and today the courts are in crisis. The Assembly is responsible, which does not respect the decisions of the Constitutional Court,” Bardhi is reported to have declared.
Further, the head of the PD parliamentary group stated:
“You are the Speaker of the Assembly, the only one in history who considers the implementation of a government act more important than the Constitution. In the hierarchy of norms, you do not place the Constitution of Albania, but the orders of the Council of Ministers. You spoke to us here about how the new parliamentary session will be, but you are starting this session by violating the Constitution. You ended the previous session by violating the Constitution, now you are starting it with constitutional violations. This Assembly should have started the session yesterday. But you are not serious, you do not know the Constitution.”
Taulant Balla opposed the opposition’s accusations, defending the majority’s actions and emphasizing that the prescribed procedures have been followed.
“We have fully respected the decision of the Constitutional Court and have exercised our constitutional right to propose the relevant law. This side of the Assembly has never questioned the decisions of the Constitutional Court or other courts,” Balla said.
According to him, setting the salary level is the responsibility of Parliament and not of the courts.
“In the democratic world, determining salaries is the competence of Parliament, not of the courts,” Balla declared.
Balla announced that the SP Parliamentary Group has submitted within the deadline the draft law aimed at addressing the Constitutional Court’s decision. He requested that the initiative be examined urgently in committees and then voted on in the plenary session.
The debate takes place as the boycott over August salaries has affected the administration and judicial secretaries, the Civil Chamber and the Criminal Chamber of the Tirana Court, as well as the administration of the Court of Appeals.
