Constitutional Court of Albania reinstates Veliaj to his post – the mayor of Tirana will lead the city from detention

Although he is under investigation and in custody, the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, has been reinstated as the head of the Albanian capital. By a decision of the Constitutional Court, the decision of the Council of Ministers and the vote of the Tirana City Council to dismiss him were annulled, with the explanation that such moves would constitute a violation of the Constitution. This also rendered void the decision of President Bajram Begaj to call early local elections.

By: Bledar Kuka

According to the decision of the Constitutional Court, Veliaj can be dismissed only in the case of a constitutional violation, and not because he has not performed his duties for more than three months. The Court assessed that Veliaj was not absent by his own will, but due to a decision by the Special Court, which sent him to custody. Veliaj therefore remains the mayor of Tirana until the end of his term in 2027, and unless new legal decisions are made, he will run the city from the detention facility.

The decision of the Constitutional Court has sparked fierce debate on the Albanian political scene. While some analysts see it as a precedent and a strengthening of the rule of law, others claim that it has thrown the country into institutional chaos.

Analyst Ilir Pata believes that such a decision was expected and that it represents an important precedent in Albanian justice.

“We expected such a decision from the start of the judicial process, a process Albanian institutions have not seen in a long time, and each side presented its arguments. This decision of the Constitutional Court has been missing ever since the agreement with Greece on the division of the maritime border was signed. At that time, its members, who were seasoned professionals, showed courage to oppose the government, which has great power in Albania. This is an important precedent and the first precedent for us because the authors of the Albanian Constitution prioritized giving greater significance to a member of parliament or a minister,” Pata said, adding: “Today, our Constitution says that a minister, MP or the president of the Republic is not responsible for the decisions they make because they have immunity, except in cases of proven and serious criminal offenses. An MP in our system is elected with nine or eight thousand votes, while the mayor of Tirana is elected with 160 or 170 thousand votes. So the representation or strength of the mayor is greater than that of an MP, yet, according to our Constitution, he does not have the protection that MPs have. Erion Veliaj was arrested for a criminal offense for which an MP cannot be arrested, because for an MP, parliament must first give authorization for arrest, searches or security measures,” Pata emphasized.

Frok Cupi, on the other hand, argues that the Constitutional Court has created an absurd situation and does not have the authority to annul presidential decrees.

“This decision of the Constitutional Court has two aspects. One aspect is how it is interpreted by the populist side, and this portion of the public has understood it as if Erion Veliaj, the former mayor of Tirana, has been declared innocent. That is not true. The fact that the decision is unclear means that it burdens the Constitutional Court, because it did not clarify it. The Constitutional Court dealt only with that part, namely the decision of the Municipal Council by which he was dismissed. According to what the public understands, the decision of the Constitutional Court also encompassed the president of Albania, the government and the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. This decision did not affect the presidential decree, which shows that this is another shortcoming of the Constitutional Court. This means that it issued a suspension that does not actually fall under its competence. However, this suspension is not an annulment, which means that Albania today has a presidential decree on elections, but elections are not allowed. This is absurd. This court has placed the country in an absurd situation. I say that the Constitutional Court has issued a decision with ‘zero’ effect, and that is incomprehensible. Let us return to the legal meaning of what is happening. The technical meaning is that the Constitutional Court annulled the decision of the municipal council and the decision of the government, but did not provide a solution to the issue. These decisions are still in force, and it seems that the Court is telling you that you can fix something and return here in order to issue another decision. This is the first thing. The second is that the Constitutional Court cannot touch presidential decrees, and in reality it has only created chaos and noise, but does not have the jurisdiction to touch the president. So we find ourselves in a situation where the decision of the Constitutional Court does not provide a solution but creates an institutional deadlock regarding the governance of the municipality of Tirana.”

Asked what can be expected next, Cupi assesses that the government and the president might try to pressure the Constitutional Court into issuing a different decision.

“I fully agree with what Prime Minister Rama said, and he was very clear. Let the Constitutional Court implement the decision to release Erion Veliaj. This has been the request of the prime minister and the Socialist Party from the beginning. This may happen, but it also may not, because I do not think the Constitutional Court will have the courage or be able to reach a joint decision on Veliaj’s release. The Constitutional Court actually acts, as it showed again this time, like an opposition to the government, and not like a legal instrument or a balancing institution. This is the most likely explanation. Also, the Constitutional Court is in a period of uncertainty, because two judges have completed their mandates, and out of nine members, eight of them are not judges. They come from other legal professions, such as attorneys and similar. So I do not believe the Constitutional Court will release Erion Veliaj. I think the solution will be found within the institutions affected by the decision, because the municipal council has been affected by the decision, with the argument that Veliaj’s side of the story was not heard by the council. I think the Municipal Council will summon and hear Veliaj so they can have a joint position with the Constitutional Court, in a sense to ‘appease’ the Court, which appears to be angry, but not functioning as a professionally grounded institution. I expect that both the Municipal Council and the government will ‘appease’ the Court in order to resolve the issue of the mayor of Tirana. The capital cannot remain without an acting mayor. We are in a situation where many problems may arise in the city. The city needs proper guidance. We are in a situation in which we cannot wait another year and a half, because we are on the path toward European Union integration, and you cannot be admitted to the EU with a capital full of garbage.”

Pata, on the other hand, believes that there are precedents both in Albania and in Europe whereby an institution can function even when its head is in custody.

“The first aspect of the decision is that a matter concerning a specific authority, such as the mayor, cannot be resolved by the prime minister. It cannot be resolved by the majority, nor by politics. In practical terms, Erion Veliaj is the mayor of Tirana and will run the institution by granting a power of attorney to a person he designates. Whether he will remain in custody, we do not know, but we can say that Veliaj is in his last term as mayor as allowed by law. He cannot run again. I believe Mr. Veliaj is in a political dilemma because he is still young and is thinking about continuing his career. He will take the gamble of his life, but when it comes to this issue, Mr. Veliaj’s gamble is his personal matter. I think the decision of the Constitutional Court is a positive step because it restrained politics and the executive from determining the fate of other branches of government. The Constitutional Court can determine this if asked to do so, but I do not think the mayor of Tirana can be appointed by a government decision, but only through elections. Elections were held in 2023, and now Veliaj is in custody. Can the municipality be run by a mayor who is in a cell? There have been such cases in Albania and in Western Europe, but the issue must be resolved within the framework of constitutional logic and political rationality. Even if elections are held, the opinion of the Constitutional Court must be requested regarding the way they would be conducted.”

Pata adds that Albania’s special judicial institutions have become extremely powerful and are strongly influenced by international actors.

“I think the new justice system is being used. The power of the prosecution is the power of indictment. It cannot be the power to restrict liberty, but in our country, SPAK has great power because it can also wiretap judges, and it has significant technical and financial resources provided especially by the European Union. We must say that SPAK today has the support of the International Monitoring Operation, and the director of this institution is the director for enlargement in the European Commission. So we are dealing with power that is not only national, but beyond that. Those who lead the International Monitoring Operation are Americans and Europeans. Mr. Priebe, who until recently headed this institution, was an adviser to Angela Merkel. So we are dealing with a judicial body that has the support of major powers such as the European Union and the United States. A week ago, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary came to Tirana and did not meet with the prime minister or the foreign minister. He met only with the minister of justice, the interior minister and went to SPAK, where he met with prosecutors. He met with the prosecutor who is a candidate to become the head of SPAK, thereby showing whom they want to see at the helm of the special judiciary.”