On 21 February 2023, the next session of Working Group I was held in Tirana on the topic “The Impact of EU Legislation on the National Judicial System, during and after EU Accession”. This was held under the 2021-2023 National Convention for European Integration implemented by EMA and the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) with financial support from SlovakAid. Working Group I, with the expertise of its experts, is examining and discussing topics in the field of fundamental rights, the fight against corruption, justice reform and the screening process for Chapter 23. The activity was held in a hybrid format, with physical participation in the premises of the Advocacy School and online on the ZOOM platform.
The meeting started with an opening speech by Nirvana Deliu, Project Coordinator, European Movement in Albania (EMA), who thanked the participants and spoke about the importance of Working Group I, from where she expressed that there will always be a need for initiatives and activities on Chapter 23 given that the country is on the brink of opening the first Cluster of chapters which includes Chapter 23.
Gentjan Skara, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Justice at Bedër University, gave a historical overview of Albania’s process of joining the European Union and how the EU law affects Albanian legislation. He discussed topics such as EU law: sources, natures, and characteristics, accession criteria, the Stabilization and Association Agreement and its impact on Albanian legislation with a particular focus on the obligation to align domestic legislation with EU acquis (Article 70). He mentioned the conditions that Albania needs to meet to become a member state of the EU, emphasizing that with EU membership, all areas of Albanian legislation must be aligned and implemented with the legislation and standards of the EU. Skara also pointed out the problems arising from the copy-paste method of adopting laws, from which the legal effect of EU Acts is implemented in Albania. In conclusion, he said that there are very few cases from lawyers referring to EU law at the first or second instance courts, or Supreme Court, or the Constitutional Court, as they do not have an elaborated understanding of it.
The activity then proceeded with the presentation of Radovan Pala, Ph.D. LL.M and Kristina Kesnerova, representatives from the Slovakian law firm Taylor Wessing, who were invited as experts. Together Pala and Kesnerova, spoke about the role of the agreements with the EU before accession, the impact on the justice system of the aspiring country before and after accession and on the new EU mechanism for the Rule of Law. Kesnerova clarified the integration criteria into the EU, from where she said that protection and respect for rights is the basis of EU values. She emphasized that the importance of the rule of law today is stricter than when Slovakia became part of the EU, which has come as a result of the diminishing to the rule of law even in the EU Member States themselves, such as the situation in Poland and Hungary. Pala said that the most important message of the presentation is the weakening of the law. He added that there is no objective as to how to achieve the rule of law and an effective judicial system, however there are criteria that every state must meet. The speaker spoke of the competition law which explained that every state must be independent, and the need for courts that are in line with the core bases and elements with the European Union. According to him, it is important that the system is composed of judges who will accept these values and that a culture is necessary, from where people and judges understand what personal and institutional independence means. Then Kesnerova highlighted the importance of cooperation of judges in following of EU laws, while Pala emphasized that there are always risks on the judiciary and its independence and efficiency, such as pressures and external influence, conflicts of interest (corruption) and underlined that even in the EU there have been cases of corruption. Taking the Slovak case as an example, where during the accession process a Judicial Council was created with the aim of strengthening the independence of the judiciary. The problem was that this Council was so independent that it could not be controlled..
The last part of the meeting was opened to discussions and comments from the participants, with questions and recommendations in relation to some areas and issues mentioned during presentations such as the independence of the judiciary, the harmonization of national law with EU law and measures to strengthen the rule of law.
