Judges, prosecutors not expected to face property this year

Skepticism for such a thing expresses organisations that monitor the justice system, which estimate that preparation of the legal base and constitutional changes will take time.

According to them, the lack of political consensus for such reform is also difficult, as well as the opposition being made to this process by the international community and the Judiciary Council and the Prosecutorial Council.

The Ministry of Justice says it cannot proceed with constitutional amendments without receiving the Venice Commission's opinion, which it is taking in March. According to the MD, Kosovo has no interest in not consulting Venice on a very important issue such as Veting. Also, it has become known that Minister Haxhiu has not yet met opposition leaders in the country to discuss this reform.

Part of the task force for preparation of the legal property base is Arton Demhay, by the organisation Geta, who says that on the basis of the procedures that are under way, it is not expected at least by the end of this year to have any effective property process, the KP reports.

Taking into account procedures we're already working on legal grounds and at the same time on constitutional changes that need to happen to prepare the beginning of the property process. Now if we take these procedures into account until the law and constitutional changes are drafted, these should go to government, then the government should go to the Assembly, where they will be reviewed, voted. One can potentially then take the initiative to the Constitutional Court and such things, I think that will cause delay. So, I don't think it can be expected that by the end of 2022 there will be an effective process of property”, he says.

Even Yll Zekiaj from the Kosovo Institute for Justice tells Kosovo that this year only legal preparations for the property process will take place.

Zekiaj points out that the only way that the justice system of “turns” is property and as such says it should be done through constitutional changes.

I don't believe that the judges will be faced with property during 2022, it could be time prejudice. But I believe that during the year 2022 all preparations must be made for a literal process of property. I believe that the year 2022 will be the year in which we have constitutional amendments, we will have a legal basis then with a special property law, but it all depends on the approach the Ministry of Justice will have, how much the Ministry of Justice will be able to convince the international factor of the need for vetoing, how much MD can unify the political factor, respectively, including the minority parties represented in the country to support such a process”, he says.

For such a reform, Zekij says it is up to the government to create the necessary consensus and make it clear to the international factor that the property will be organised only in order to increase the integrity of the justice system.

The Kosovo government on 13 October 2021 has adopted the concept of the Document for the development of the property process in the justice system, which recommends the Government's adoption of options that recommends ownership with constitutional changes from an ad-hoc body, and then continues the continued assessment into the framework of the Kosovo Judiciary Council and the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council.