The opposition parties are considering that the government has not addressed the recommendations of the Venice Commission on the Draft Law for the Prosecution Council of Kosovo. In the Commission for Legislation it was said that this legislative initiative will end up in the Constitutional Court again and that the ruling party does not take justice reform seriously.
During the examination of the reports of the main commissions for this draft law, the opposition MPs emphasized that the independence of the Prosecutorial Council of Kosovo is being violated.
The Committee on Legislation has approved the reports of the main committees on the Draft Law on the Prosecution Council of Kosovo.
The deputy of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Driton Selmanaj, has warned that this draft law will be sent to the Constitutional Court, as he pointed out that the recommendations of the Venice Commission have not been taken into account.
"It is unacceptable that the letters that come to us from important international factors in Kosovo, and that this is then reflected in the Progress Report that they say about Kosovo, that you do not share it with us, but keep it for yourself. I think it's wrong, it's very wrong, and it's your duty to share me with us, while I'm saying that it's good to stop this process even now, even though you approved it as a commission, stop it and return one more time to the government so that the other proposals come in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission but also with the idea that the reform in the justice system is really a reform and the system is not deformed. I would normally vote against it and I am telling you that this issue will unfortunately end up in the Constitutional Court again because we are determined to defend the constitutionality in the Assembly", he declared.
Selmani added that disregarding the recommendations has political consequences for the country.
The chairman of the Commission for Legislation, Adnan Rrustemi, reacted to this, saying that the recommendations of the Venice Commission were dealt with in the working group.
"The letter which was sent by the EU Office was at the stage of reviewing the draft law in the working group. And I treated it as a letter addressed to the chairman of the working group and everyone who was involved in this process had access. There was no letter in the committee review stage after the working group concluded it. It has been in the working group treatment phase. Even the comments of the EU Office were about the specific provisions for which we met and stopped to address them. I share the belief that they have been addressed, perhaps in a different form, in certain situations... I am convinced that the draft law addresses the recommendations of the Venice Commission, based on the judgment of the Constitutional Court. There is no reason, no unconstitutional element", he said.
Even the deputy of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Hajdar Beqa, said that this draft law does not pass the filter of the Constitutional Court, since he considered that there are dozens of violations.
"This majority has seen that it had the numbers to reform justice if it had the will, but it has been playing ping-pong from the beginning. I was also connected to those numbers since I was elected the chief prosecutor. With the intention of fighting corruption, you have not left Kosovo without a chief prosecutor for four years, we have not had a chief prosecutor for four years and we are talking about fighting corruption in Kosovo. The chief prosecutor is not elected because he does not like x or y, this whole law is being made as soon as the chief prosecutor is elected, not as soon as the reform is done. Here is the topic in my opinion", said Beqa.
The deputy of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Besnik Tahiri, said that with the current composition of the Prosecutorial Council of Kosovo, institutional independence is being violated.
"With an analytical and critical reading of the decision of the Constitutional Court, the main concern has been the body that leads this institution, which is the Prosecution Council of Kosovo. Even when we talk in this body, I agree with Adnan who says that the numbers were never the goal, because it is true, the goal was decision-making, political influence in decision-making through members, not prosecutors. I told you even then, 'don't raise it to 19 because it's too late'. 19 people are not on the field even in the European Championship, 11 are on the field and the rest are in reserve. 19 prosecutors there, what are they doing....The main problem for me is the composition, I think with this composition of the KPK, the institutional independence is violated, the independence that is delegated to it with competence and mandate, and above all, the doors are being opened to this institution with after direct political influence", said Tahiri.
The members of the Legislation Committee have also approved the report on the draft law on the property rights of foreign citizens in the Republic of Kosovo. / CP
