Justice Reform in Albania: Constitutionalism, Judicial Self-Governance and the Transformative Effects of Vetting

Naureda Llagami
University of Tirana

Abstract

The Albanian justice reform of 2016 represents one of the most complex constitutional redesigns of contemporary post-transition Europe‚ undertaken through the simultaneous constitutional amendment and the adoption of the package of laws of primary importance‚ Law No․ 115/2016 on the governing bodies of the judiciary (Law on the Judiciary)․ 96/2016 on the status of judges and prosecutors‚ Law No․ 98/2016 on the organization of judicial power․ The latest amendment Law 84/2016 for the transitional re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors‚ and the amended Law No․ Law 8577/2000 on the Constitutional Court‚ were designed to abolish systems of judicial dependence by recreating an independent‚ responsible and constitutionally based judiciary system․ This article examines the normative design of the reform in three‚ interlocking dimensions: (1) the constitution as a prerequisite for the judicial reform‚ (2) the design of the self-governance system of the judiciary in the High Judicial Council‚ and (3) the vetting process as an extraordinary form of transitional accountability․ Based on an analysis of the legal substance of the reform‚ this article argues that while the constitutional and legislative structure was both necessary and normatively coherent‚ the Albanian experience shows that legalism has intrinsic limits as a tool for reconstructing institutional legitimacy․ Constitutional change can structure reform and constrain regression‚ but cannot‚ in and of itself‚ resolve the cultural‚ professional‚ and social issues on which judicial legitimacy rests․

Presentation