09.06.2021 – 20:59
In Tirana, the experts of the Albanian legislation claim that the Constitutional Court of Albania will face some not easy professional challenges, after receiving today’s decision of the parliament for the dismissal of the President of the Republic, Ilir Meta, for serious violations. of the Constitution.
According to them, the challenges are related to the judgment on the procedures followed so far by the Assembly, the content of today’s decision and the assessment of whether or not the president’s violations are of such a degree as to justify his dismissal.
The researcher of constitutional issues and professor in this field at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana, Dr. Aurela Anastasi, says that despite consulting with other cases, the Constitutional Court has the task to say the last word whether the violations of the president are or not to the extent that his dismissal is justified.
She stressed that examples in the world with the dismissal of presidents are few to offer a variety of practices and this is the first time that happens in Albania, so the Constitutional Court is setting a precedent, is establishing a first example.
“The Constitutional Court will take into account all constitutional values in order for this precedent to turn into a positive precedent, because this would then be in the interest of the good in justice and the good of the country. And not to allow it to turn into a negative precedent, which could jeopardize the reference to wrong practices, which violate the Constitution, etc. “- said Ms. Anastasi.
While Sokol Hazizaj, another well-known expert on constitutional issues says that debates take place in front of ceded institutions: in front of an Assembly that should have been dissolved a month before the elections, the establishment of such a commission of inquiry is prohibited by law, while the Constitutional Court is still unfilled with members.
Under these conditions, he said, the initiative to oust the president is political, but neither legal nor constitutional. Another critical point of this issue, says Mr. Hazizaj, is the upset of the balance between the powers.
“Parliament is the head of the legal format, and when it errs with decisions, it also undermines the decisions of the current courts in the system, because as long as arbitrariness appears in the Assembly, this kind of arbitrariness not referred to in the Constitution will appear in both courts and administration everywhere “- said Mr. Hazizaj.
A key challenge for the Constitutional Court is how to distinguish violations of the Constitution from serious violations of the Constitution. For this, according to Mrs. Anastasi.
The court may use the cases of other States and the first Opinion of the Venice Commission for a similar initiative, and may request a new Opinion from Venice for the latter case, if the violations found are really serious enough constitute a constitutional cause for his dismissal.
“The case may take time to review and this time may increase considerably if the Constitutional Court uses the opportunity recognized by this law to seek a new opinion from the Venice Commission. If the Constitutional Court follows the usual deadlines, the case would take months. If the Constitutional Court would set a special deadline, which is set for other special trials provided in its organic law, then this case could be completed within 30 days “- said Ms. Anastasi.
The Constitutional Court of Albania can be called a new court, because it has just been renovated in most of its members, says Ms. Anastasi.
The incomplete composition of the court with 7 members out of 9 required by the Constitution can affect the challenges of this issue. The experience of these judges in the field of constitutional justice is also new, experts say.
Ms. Anastasi says that the Constitutional Court is functional with 7 members, but 2 judges less means two opinions less, two votes less and this increases the weight of the responsibility of the Court, because it has to face this incompleteness.
On the other hand, Mr. Hazizaj says that the Constitutional Court is also a court of political character in terms of its content, how it is created, and the value of these decisions will be examined. The court is expected to clearly separate the Institutions from the individuals who run them, he said.
“If you issue a political decision, tomorrow will come a decision that violates the right, which may violate the right of members of the Constitutional Court. This is not a matter of personal character, but it is a matter of general character. The Constitutional Court must separate the guilt as a citizen Ilir Meta, or the guilt as consuming an act or an activity as President of the Republic.
The Organic Law on the Constitutional Court provides in some articles for such special trials, but does not provide for maximum time limits. With the majority of votes of its members, the CC decides to pass the special issue in the plenary session, which must be public. The Constitutional Court will first discuss its jurisdiction, the handling of the issue of dismissal of the president from the point of view of procedures, as well as the handling of the issue from the point of view of the substantive verification of all constitutional issues and causes raised by the decision of Assembly / VOA