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Balluk's suspension and judges' salaries, the two issues that the Constitutional Court will consider in January
The year 2025 is closing with many troubles for the government. Indeed, Edi Rama received his fourth mandate, but it seems that this mandate will not be easy at all. This is not because of the opposition, but because of the Special Prosecution Office. SPAK during 2025 has dealt 3 fatal blows to the government. The first was the arrest of Mayor Erion Veliaj, then the arrest of Deputy Prime Minister Balluku and most recently the accusations against AKSHI.
Rama will appear before journalists tomorrow at the end-of-year conference and we will most likely hear what we have heard so far, where he will attempt to play with two goals: On the one hand, he torpedoes justice and on the other, he boasts that he supports justice reform.
But the year 2026 will also start with a 'headache' for Rama. The Prime Minister sent to the Constitutional Court the decision of the Constitutional Court to suspend Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Belinda Balluku from office. The issue will be considered in a plenary session on January 22, and not only Balluku's fate, but the future of the anti-corruption fight will depend on this issue.
Because of this decision, the majority has blocked the meeting of the Mandates Council, on SPAK's request to lift Balluk's immunity. If the Constitutional Court rules in favor of the government, SPAK's request will likely be rejected and the signal will be clear for the prosecution to no longer mess with MPs or ministers.
But 2 days before this issue, the Constitutional Court will meet on another issue that has caused "headaches" for Rama. On January 20, the request of the Union of Judges for an increase in judges' salaries will be reviewed. Rama has attacked the judges several times on this issue, even a few days ago. He has also put pressure on the Constitutional Court not to accept their request.
The clash between the judiciary, the executive, and Parliament over the calculation of magistrates' salaries began in 2019, when the Supreme State Audit found that the calculation of judges' salaries, made by the High Judicial Council, was incorrect and that judges were being withheld a portion of their salary, based on the legal changes of 2016.
Parliament intervened in the law in 2021 and made changes that established the calculation made by the Supreme Court of Justice as 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 in a way "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. /Pamphlet
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