Prime Minister Edi Rama convened the Socialist Party parliamentary group on Monday, February 16, in a meeting where he presented a package of changes to the Criminal Procedure Code.
The proposals, which are expected to be approved soon, aim to limit the courts' authority to suspend senior constitutional officials from office, opening a new debate on the relationship between the judiciary and the executive branch.
He didn't which has already been submitted to the Assembly, envisages affecting Article 242 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to this article, so far, the measure of suspension from office does not apply to persons elected under the electoral law, in this sense, deputies or mayors.
While with the new wording, the exemption will be expanded to expressly include the President, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the ministers, the Ombudsman, the Head of the Supreme State Audit Office and the Governor of the Bank of Albania.
"There is not a single case in Europe, in the history of democracy, a single one, where a member of the government has been suspended by a prosecutor..." Rama said during the meeting.
According to him, Parliament will first express its opinion on SPAK's request to Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku to lift her immunity, and then on the legal changes proposed by the socialist majority. Which means that even if these changes are approved, they will not be applied to Balluku's case.
Meanwhile, the third session, despite the unjustified delays of the Mandates Council, is expected to take place on February 23. This meeting was also scheduled as a result of the continuous pressure of civil society actors, in order not to exceed the deadlines provided for in the case.
Proposed intervention, a feature of non-democratic countries
Citizens.al has previously analyzed with legal and economic experts the prime minister's latest move, which has been described as "dilettancy".
We recall that a year ago, it was Prime Minister Edi Rama who blackmailed SPAK into not daring to collect or confiscate his or other parliamentarians' phones, while this year the executive's pressure has reached another level.
The prime minister is now seeking increased immunity for himself, his ministers, and a number of political figures, as mentioned above.
Political immunity protects high-ranking officials from political pressure while in office, but does not make them immune from justice. Members of Parliament have limited protection (parliamentary approval is required for security measures or arrest), while ministers and the prime minister can be investigated when there are serious criminal suspicions.
According to a survey conducted on the status of immunity in European countries, Citizens found that in the West, in countries like Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, the government does not give you immunity. "immunity" in the face of the law.
The prime minister and ministers have no personal immunity: if you abuse, you are investigated, tried, and, if found guilty, punished like any other citizen. The idea is simple: the position gives you responsibility, not special protection.
In some countries with more fragile democracies, such as Ukraine, the law does not declare them untouchable, but rather establishes "filter" before justice: special courts, parliamentary votes, lengthy procedures.
In political systems like Turkey and Russia, however, executive immunity is much stronger. The president and top ministers can be virtually immune to criminal investigations while in office, allowing them to hold power without effective judicial scrutiny.
If a government takes initiatives to expand the immunity of ministers and the prime minister to the extent of protecting them from court procedural measures, this does not constitute approximation to European standards, but rather a departure from them.
The European practice of the rule of law is based on the idea that political power should be controllable by justice, not protected by it.
He completed his master's studies in the department of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the University of Tirana. She has been reporting for more than four years in Citizens.al on issues of culture, urban development, feminism, etc. She is also a contributor to other local and foreign online media, and has worked in the editing of various materials. She is the author of the podcast "Pezull" on Citizens.al and is engaged as a coordinator of projects related to the empowerment of young journalists and migration issues.
