TIRANA, Feb 8 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Sunday that salary increases for judges cannot be disproportionate or placed above all other public sector wages, pushing back against demands from judges’ and prosecutors’ associations for further pay rises.
Speaking in the latest episode of his “Flasim” (Let’s Talk) podcast, the government head emphasized that the calls had triggered widespread public discontent, citing surveys showing that “90% of Albanians oppose raising judges’ salaries.”
He rejected suggestions that the government intends to cut judicial pay, stressing that salaries rose significantly as part of Albania’s justice reform process.
“We asked Albanian taxpayers to make a sacrifice and pay more for judges who pass the vetting process and take on the challenge of an independent judiciary,” Rama said.
He noted that the government had already broken with the traditional public-sector pay hierarchy by placing judges’ salaries above those of other senior state officials.
“We consciously raised judges’ salaries above everyone else,” Rama said. “But this was never meant to imply automatic or disproportionate increases.”
Rama said Albania could not become a country where judges form a privileged caste above all others.
“That will not happen,” he said, adding that his position should not be seen as a challenge to judicial independence.
“This is not a confrontation with the judiciary, but a state necessity, so that all public servants, including judges, retain a sense of fairness and responsibility to the state,” he said.
The Prime Minister said his remarks were a response to statements by one judges’ association, which he said did not represent the entire judicial community.
Judges “cannot raise their salaries by 2,000 or 3,000 euros per month,” Rama said, expressing hope that the Constitutional Court would deliver a definitive ruling on the issue.
He warned that the ongoing dispute risked undermining public trust in the justice system.
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