BDI: Constitutional Court decision threatens the status of the Albanian language and legal certainty

BDI has described yesterday’s decision by the Constitutional Court as a precedent with dangerous consequences for the Albanian language and legal certainty in the country.

According to the party, instead of examining the publication of the regulation only in Macedonian in relation to the legal and constitutional obligations to publish acts in Albanian as well, the Court focused on the content of the act.

BDI stresses that constitutionality is linked not only to content, but also to procedure and form, as well as to the implementation of constitutional rules governing how acts are drafted and enter into force.

The party says that the Constitutional Court has previously examined similar cases, while with yesterday’s decision, in its view, it acted contrary to its own practice and violated the rules.

“If the publication of an act in violation of constitutional and legal requirements can no longer be treated as a matter of formal constitutionality and legality, what value do the constitutional rules on the procedure and publication of acts have?” BDI asks.

According to the party, this issue goes beyond a single regulation and concerns the Albanian language, the legal order and the legal certainty of every citizen.

BDI raises concerns that if publishing an act only in Macedonian is not relevant to constitutional review, the same standard could in the future also be applied to other acts.

“The Albanian language is not a constitutional decoration, but part of the constitutional order. What happened yesterday must not be normalized or relativized,” the statement says.

The party adds that the debate is not only about a single regulation, but about whether the Constitution, the law and legal certainty are applied equally to everyone. “For this reason, this issue does not end with yesterday’s decision,” BDI declares.