TIRANA – Albania’s parliament on Monday evening postponed a vote on the draft-decision to set up the ad-hoc committee that will assess the recommended candidates for the vetting bodies that will scan hundreds of judges and prosecutors as part of the judicial reform adopted in July, which is considered key to Albania’s progress on its EU membership path, ATA reports.
Lawmakers approved a draft-decision to delay for another week a deadline for vetting institutions candidates after a request made by the chairman of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, Gramoz Ruçi.
In his opening remarks, the Speaker of the Parliament, Ilir Meta, said that SP parliamentary group had asked to change the agenda of today’s extraordinary session of the parliament and ask the People’s Advocate to review a list of 21 recommended candidates for the vetting commissions.
“The Parliament convened today to establish the ad hoc committee. The President of the republic failed to exercise his competencies according to the justice reform and it was the People’s Advocate who has rigorously adhered to the Constitution on this issue. The product was a list of 21 candidates for 28 positions in the vetting commissions and a list was forwarded to the Parliament. The People’s Advocate also submitted a second list of candidates who failed to fulfill the criteria due to the lack of due documentation. Therefore we deem inappropriate to hold a voting session today and we will give the People’s Advocate seven more days to summon these candidates and ask them to fulfill the required documents,” Ruçi said.