The remarks of the opposition MPs did not convince those in power not to approve the reports related to the Prosecution Bill in the Legislation Committee. At the meeting of the Commission, the question of whether the changes made to the document took into consideration the recommendations of the Venice Commission or not
The parliamentary committee for Legislation has approved the reports of the permanent committees for the Draft Law on the Prosecutorial Council, despite the dissatisfaction expressed by the opposition MPs.
LDK deputy, Driton Selmanaj, has justified the vote against and has warned that if the Bill is approved in the Assembly, it will end up in the Constitutional Court again.
He complained that the chairman of the Commission, Adnan Rrustemi, did not share with the members the last remarks of the internationals.
"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 present for Kosovo, that you do not share with us, but keep it for yourself. I think it's wrong, it's very wrong and it's your duty that you shared it 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 it once again 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", said Selmanaj. "I will normally vote against 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".
The Chairman of the Legislation Committee, Adnan Rrustemi, said that the letter was addressed to him and the Committee, therefore he did not share it with the other members. According to him, the current version of the draft law has taken into consideration the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
"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 conviction that they have been addressed in different forms, in certain situations", said Rrustemi. "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."
However, the opposition insisted that the content of the document is unconstitutional.
The deputy of PDK, Hajdar Beqa, said that this draft law does not pass the filter of the Constitutional Court, as 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 from the beginning it has played table tennis. He was also connected to those numbers since he chose the chief prosecutor. After deciding to fight corruption, you had not left Kosovo without a chief prosecutor for four years. For four years, we have not had a chief prosecutor and we are talking about fighting corruption in Kosovo", said Beqa. "They don't elect the chief prosecutor because he doesn't like 'x' or 'y', this whole law is being made as soon as the chief prosecutor is elected and not as soon as the reform is done. Here is the topic, in my opinion."
The deputy of AAK, Besnik Tahiri, said that with the composition of the Prosecutorial Council, what the draft law aims at, institutional independence is 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 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 them even then, 'don't raise it to 19 because it's too early'. 19 people are not on the field even in the European Championship, 11 are on the field, the others on the reserve. What are 19 prosecutors doing there", said Tahiri. "The main problem for me is the composition. I think that with this composition of the KPK, the institutional independence is being violated, the independence that is delegated to it with competence and mandate and, above all, the doors are being opened to this institution with direct political influence".
The changes in the Law on the Prosecutorial Council were overturned last year by the Constitutional Court, after the complaint made by PDK and LDK.
In addition to the approval of the reports of the permanent commissions on the Draft Law on the KPK, the parliamentary Committee on Legislation has also approved the report on the Draft Law on the property rights of foreign citizens in Kosovo, as well as the one on the Notary.
Author: Riad Latifi
