Statement by Prime Minister Edi Rama after the meeting on the judicial reform with the chairman of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha:

Good evening!

We were the hosts, but it was our guests’ wish for me to come out first, which is not very natural for hosts to leave their guests inside.

I sincerely feel sorry that we couldn’t convince the Democratic Party to vote together the draft on judicial reform we wrote together with our strategic partners.

But I am glad to say today to Albanians that we made every possible effort to give our political opponents a real opportunity of compromise, without prejudice to the substantive contents of this reform.

By every possible efforts I do not mean only the hours we spent today in an open and direct discussion, but I mean a one-and-a-half year process. The draft we had on the table of discussions was the one discussed in the Special Committee on judicial reform, coupled with a several-item plan that was offered by European and American experts to facilitate the rapprochement between the parties.

We accepted 100% this plan, which included a qualified majority of two thirds required incessantly by the DP after a first reading of the Venice Commission report. To the surprise of many perhaps, but not mine, the DP rejected this offer that equates the majority and the opposition in the selection by vote of the candidates for certain positions in the judicial system.

I wasn’t surprised because I am not among those who think that the Democratic Party wants the judicial reform. But precisely because I have been thinking this since the first day, I have been infinitely more patient than ever, and I have asked everybody to be very patient. The same thing has done also our ally in government, who has even preached infinitely the need for consensus.

We didn’t want to give the DP any opportunity for justification, either in the eyes of Albanians or in the eyes of the international community. The Democratic Party has done everything it could, and gave every sort of pretext to delay the reform and change its core. But from this evening onwards, the Democratic Party won’t be able to give either Albanians, or Brussels, or Washington, even a single reason that can justify the failure to vote the judicial reform. Of course, the DP can tell its next reasons, but I am convinced that whatever it says now will be believed only by that party.

I said that I think the DP doesn’t want the judicial reform, and I believe that there is nobody outside the DP court who thinks differently. But according to me this doesn’t mean yet that the DP will not vote the judicial reform. We won’t wait for the Democratic Party. We will continue on the only path we have. But until the vote day in parliament, there are many hours and not a few days left for the democrats to not miss this train of history, in addition to not losing their face. I want to assure you that in the event they want to talk with us right away at expert level, in order to use time from now to the voting day in parliament, we are ready.

We are ready to listen to any ideas, proposals and request of theirs that does not affect substantially the content of the draft reform, and that is not an effort to keep their hands within the justice system.

The draft in question is not perfect and it is not written in stone. It can definitely be improved, but it can in no way deteriorate on behalf of the parties, castes or individuals who fear this reform, or who simply prefer the courts as they are today, rather than those that next generation Albania needs.

We are open to every improvement until the very last second. We won’t allow any deterioration, and we won’t wait any more second. I repeat, after this meeting the reform will go straight to parliament. We want every prosecutor and judge who will want to continue working within the system, to go through a fine sieve in terms of control of their wealth, their career quality to date, their professional and moral capacity to perform their task. And have this whole professional X-Ray process for every single person, be done under international monitoring. This reform, this draft guarantees this.

We want the current edifice of the justice system, starting from the High Council of Justice, to be demolished, and build instead of it a new edifice the residents of which, from the first one to the last one, will inhabit it in their respective positions having their professional X-Ray spotless, and after being selected on a path that politics cannot block.

This reform guarantees this because it creates unblocking mechanisms within the system in the event of any political deadlock.

We want the parties to not tear the system apart for their own interests, and neither to colour this edifice with the colour of the next governing majority, or according to the harmony of colours between the majority and the minority linked by sin. Because we want a system that will end impunity for all kinds of bully, from those who soar from the heights of politics to the cockroaches acting in the underground of crime.

This reform guarantees this, and the required majority of 2/3, the 94 required votes to amend the Constitution of the Republic available for this process to enable the parties have their say on candidates who go to parliament, but who cannot however put their veto to control justice politically – armours this.

That is why this reform is fully supported by the US, the EU and our governing coalition.

That is why this reform opens the doors of negotiations and EU accession for Albania, and therefore it deserves the support of the Albanian people regardless of their religion, region and idea, let alone parties.