The Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) is calling for Constitutional Court rulings to be implemented. The institute’s senior researcher, Naim Jakaj, presented lawmakers with an analysis titled “Non-implementation of Constitutional Court rulings,” which examines cases in which institutions have failed to comply with rulings, acted late or failed to take the necessary steps.
Jakaj recalled that Article 116 of the Constitution establishes Constitutional Court rulings as final and binding. Nevertheless, he said, this has not prevented failures to implement them in practice. He cited the cases of 572 workers at the Steel Factory in Ferizaj, Fadil Hoxha and 59 citizens of Prizren, as well as cases involving the Assembly of Kosovo.
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The Constitutional Court ruled on the case of the factory workers in Ferizaj in 2010, but the ruling was not implemented. According to Jakaj, the Court subsequently issued a decision on non-enforcement and notified the State Prosecutor’s Office.
The consequences, he said, go beyond undermining the Court’s authority: they affect citizens’ rights and weaken their trust in state institutions. Jakaj questioned the value of a ruling in a citizen’s favor if that person must wait another ten years to exercise the right it upholds.
The analysis also highlights the absence of an explicit provision in the Criminal Code establishing criminal liability for failure to implement Constitutional Court rulings. Jakaj explained that Article 394 provides for liability for failure to enforce court decisions, but does not specifically mention Constitutional Court rulings. He cited North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina as examples where this liability is expressly defined.
According to Jakaj, when the person responsible deliberately leaves a ruling unimplemented without justifiable grounds, legal liability should be clear. This is one of the main aims of the Citizens’ Legislative Initiative to amend and supplement the Criminal Code.
The initiative began on July 23 and ended on October 23, collecting 12,120 signatures from citizens. It was submitted to the Assembly of Kosovo on October 26. Its two proposals are to establish criminal liability for failure to implement Constitutional Court rulings and for the use of public money for electoral gain.
It is now up to the Assembly to consider the initiative, Jakaj said. He stressed that the aim is not to increase the number of people convicted, but to reduce the number of Constitutional Court rulings that remain without effect, since everyone, without exception, must comply with them.
At a roundtable supported by the German Embassy, Vlora Çitaku, deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), said Constitutional Court rulings are binding on all institutions and public officials, regardless of their political positions. She said the reasoning and consequences of a ruling can be debated publicly, but implementation remains a constitutional obligation. She referred to Article 116, which, she said, makes this obligation binding on the judiciary and all institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.
Çitaku recalled that the PDK has exercised its constitutional right to challenge laws before the Constitutional Court. She said that in many of these cases, the Court had found constitutional violations and struck down laws passed by the majority; she described these as political victories not only for the PDK, but also for the institutions of the Republic. Among the examples she cited were the law on the confiscation of unjustified assets and the law on the Independent Media Commission, in whose provisions the Court identified violations.
Speaking about the institution’s independence, Çitaku said the way its members are appointed and the conditions for their dismissal affect their freedom to make decisions. She said the law must ensure that their decisions are not constrained by the will of the majority. She added that the same standard of compliance applies to the PDK when a Constitutional Court ruling does not align with the party’s political position.
Armend Zemaj, a lawmaker from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), said respect for acts adopted by the Assembly and for Constitutional Court rulings has always been important to the LDK. He cited the Declaration of July 2, 1990, and the Constitution of September 7 as foundational acts in the creation of the state of Kosovo.
Zemaj said there had recently been attempts to circumvent the Constitution and the Court’s rulings by giving precedence to political actions and decisions. In a democratic state, he said, Constitutional Court rulings are not political recommendations but legal obligations for both public and state bodies.
He also raised the issue of accountability for non-implementation. According to Zemaj, the Constitutional Court refers cases in which its rulings are not implemented to the State Prosecutor’s Office, but there are problems both with the wording of the Criminal Code on failure to enforce court decisions and with the way the Prosecutor’s Office has handled cases specifically involving Constitutional Court rulings.
Burim Ramadani, a lawmaker from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, said impunity has become normalized in Kosovo, including in cases of deliberate failure to implement Constitutional Court judgments. He described political culture as the sum of political and institutional actions that, over time, come to be regarded as acceptable.
Ramadani cited infringements of civil and citizens’ rights, ranging from the confiscation of driving licenses without a court order to the failure to implement Constitutional Court rulings. He said deliberately failing to implement judgments represents the most serious infringement of constitutional order. He said this phenomenon is not new, but has reached the point where political interpretations, discussions and assessments of a judgment carry more weight than the judgment itself.
In closing, Ramadani welcomed the organizers’ initiative, describing it as a contribution to the democratization of society and the preservation of the democratic principles set out in Kosovo’s Constitution. The Vetëvendosje Movement had also been invited to attend the roundtable, but none of its representatives was present.
