Minister Tahiri: Judges in Kosovo get highest salaries in region

Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri said that today the legal basis allowing the process to be transparent and to be damaged is being drafted.

He made these comments at the joint conference with the chairman of the Kosovo Judiciary Council ( KDP), Nehat Idrizi and Kosovo Prosecutorial Council Chairman (KPK) Blerim Isufi, EO reports.

“This is a very remaining process we will draw up a legal basis which will guarantee a very transparent process. And the moment we start drafting the legal base, I'll let you know, but for now we're in consultation. We'll make sure this process is transparent so it doesn't harm people. In co-operation with two very important bodies we will draft the legal base”, he said.

Tahiri has said that Kosovo prosecutors and judges will do the best wages in the region. But he said he expects it to also bring concrete results to their work, especially in the fight against corruption.

“Vlen points out that the latest salary hike for judges and prosecutors was made in 2011. Kosovo judges, under this decision, have their best salaries in the region. We expect the year 2018 to be law enforcement. We expect the year 2018 to be a year of law enforcement. There will be an increase of judges and prosecutors, and of course we can say that this government has taken enormous measures in empowering the judiciary and prosecution”.

He has also talked about the package of laws affecting the work of the judiciary and the prosecution, which are expected to be sent to Government.

“I announced today the Council representatives that we have completed the law package, this package of laws has been drafted and will soon be sent for approval to the Government I also announced to draft the Criminal Code a very important law on the work of judiciary”.

Nehat Idrizi, head of the KDP, said next year will be a challenging year in terms of accountability and transparency.

He also mentioned the challenges he faced during 2017. As for wage hikes, he said it guarantees that next year will be a year of rule of law.

The “was a challenging year since they had three difficult processes. As for the process of integration of the north, even though integration was scheduled to begin in January of this year the implementation has finally been realised the whole process has successfully been completed by judges in their jobs. There hasn't even been a smaller option to this point. Reports between judges and administrative staff are extremely good”.

“As far as the government's decision was concerned, the minister said that the salary increase was made in 2011 and that year it has not moved. This leads us to be next year of rule of law”.

Blerim Isufaj, leader of the KKP, said the ministry has always taken their stand on any decision, including wage hikes.