CoE on Judiciary Reform: “Waiting for Venice Commission, but it is not an arbiter”

“What we expect as soon as the Commission of Venice takes the propositions of the special commission for judiciary reform, is the appointing of some legal experts of the highest level, of international standards, who will value the proposition compared to the best international practices and laws. They will draft a legal analyze that in the commission’s jargon it is called an opinion. This will be sent for the approval of the special parliamentary commission. What Albania will receive from the Venice Commission is a legal consult based on the propositions that have been sent. Allow me to underline that the Venice Commission is made of experts with authority, and they are no arbiter. It is not an organization that will decide who is right and who is wrong. They will not replace the local political processes. It is always up to Albania and the Albanian politicians about what is right and wrong for the country”, Leidekker declared.

How long does it take for the Venice Commission to formulate an opinion on the draft sent by Albania?

“It depends on the volume of propositions that will come at the Venice Commission. Our preliminary evaluation is that we might have an opinion within six or seven weeks from the arrival of the draft”, said the Head of the Council of Europe Office.

For cases when Albanians are addressed to the Court of Strasbourg regarding the property issues, the Head of the Council of Europe says that the Albanian government is trying to find a solution.

“Most of these decisions were taken by the early 90s and 2000s, and they have never received the benefits appointed by the court. The number of these cases is much bigger and the Albanian government is aware about the proportions of this problem. For this reason, the Albanian government is trying to find a solution. We have made an analyze of the proposition that arrived by the government and we have some question regarding”.

Marco Leidekker says that the Committee of European Council Ministers, which is the organization that monitors the implementation of the Strasbourg Court decisions, will come with a decision this December.

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