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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The hearing regarding the request for a salary increase for judges, where the requesting parties were the Union and the Association of Judges, has concluded at the Constitutional Court.
After a 7-hour session, the Constitutional Court adjourned for a decision, which is expected to be made public within a few days. All parties were heard in this session: the Union and Association of Judges, the Council of Ministers, and the Parliament.
Parliament intervened in the law in 2021 and made such changes that the calculation made by the Supreme Court of Justice was considered fair and bypassed the proposals of the Supreme Court of Justice. These changes were seen by the judges as a salary reduction and a violation of Article 138 of the Constitution, where in order to preserve the independence of the judiciary, interventions of this nature are not allowed. The Union requested the repeal of the changes and the Constitutional Court decided in 2022 to accept the lawsuit, repealing the amended articles of the law “On the status of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania” on the reference salary. The Constitutional Court asked the Assembly to review the law and clarify the reference to the salary of magistrates.
In 2023, the Assembly made new changes, based on the decision of the Constitutional Court, linking the salary of magistrates to that of the President of the Republic. This change brought an increase in the salaries of magistrates, as foreseen in the laws on justice reform, and increased the reference salary by 570 lek. At the same time, changes were also approved in the salaries of the civil administration, which were increased several times.
Judges, whose reference salary was now linked to that of the president, did not benefit from this salary increase. For the Union of Judges, these changes contradict Article 138 of the Constitution.
The Union interprets that the separation of judges' salaries from the civil administration and their non-benefit from the increases made to the administration's salaries brings about "a de facto reduction in salary, despite the fact that, formally, the salary has not been reduced, but has even increased by 570 lek". The Union says that with the changes to the salary system in 2023, magistrates are denied a salary increase of 78 thousand lek.
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