Albanian Judges Likely to Quit to Avoid Vetting

Analysists in Albania believe the law on the re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors or so-called vetting law will result in a lot of resignations among the around 800 justice officials.

After the Constitutional Court on Thursday dismissed objections against the law from the opposition Democratic Party and the Union of the Judges, the law will enter into force at the start of January.

Two main bodies will be formed to handle the vetting of judges and prosecutors, a process comprising assets checks and background checks in order to investigate any connections with crime and their profession.

The relevant bodies will be a Commission, an Appeal Chamber, and Public Commissioners that will be appointed from among legal experts.  

The process will also be monitored externally by the International Monitoring Operation - a body of international lawyers led by the European Commission.

Analysts believe that not all justice officials will pass the complex process of controls.

Afrim Krasniqi, director of the Albanian Institute for Political Studies, told BIRN that some will probably resign, using the allegedly political nature of the judicial reform as an excuse.

"They are going to use resignation to skip the checks and the publication of their financial and professional data. Some of them will try to enter in politics... some of them are very rich and have strong political ties and access to the media and public life," Krasniqi said.

The law on vetting makes it easy for magistrates to leave the system without facing consequences. Article 56 anticipates that those assessed have the right to resign not later than three months from the entry into force of the bill.

"The resignation shall be submitted in written form to the...