Congratulations have poured in from representatives of the diplomatic corps in Tirana as the Constitutional Court is composed of 6 members starting from Wednesday.
It took two years and a half to achieve the ‘great’ and ‘fantastic’ action, as it was called by some ambassadors, to make possible the establishment of the quorum for the 9-member Constitutional Court to restart functionality in Albania.
President Ilir Meta appointed on Wednesday Përparim Kalo as the sixth member of the Constitutional Court while
judge Altin Binaj elected by the parliament
was sworn in by Meta last Tuesday.
In an unprecedented occurrence in any country Albanian Constitutional Court has been dysfunctional since 2018 due to the vetting process which led to dismissals and resignations of dozens upon dozens of ‘corrupt’ judges.
US Ambassador Yuri Kim congratulated Albanian leaders for taking “urgent action” to make the court functional before the end of the year. She had almost daily pushed the relevant authorities to act accordingly.
For his part EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca said the Court is now “fully functional”, despite it having only six of its nine members, and that Albania has now met all conditions to start EU accession talks.
“Today’s appointment of Përparim Kalo as a member of the Constitutional Court is yet another great news and a fundamental step,” said Ambassador Vincenzo Del Monaco, Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania. According to him, for the first time in over two years and a half there will be quorum, making possible for the Court to operate.
Without entering into details how procedures were expedited by Parliament, President and the Justice Appointments Council it is significant the happiness of the internationals, particularly of those involved in the justice reform in Albania, over what happened on Wednesday. Albanians should rejoice too as they have the Constitutional Court in function now. Nevertheless it will take some more years for the judiciary to be fully standardized for the ordinary citizen to consider it as its door to true and equal justice. /argumentum.al
