TIRANA, April 20 /ATA/ – The Constitutional Court has published a February ruling annulling amendments to parliament’s rules of procedure, finding them incompatible with the Albanian constitution due to procedural violations.
The Court said parliament failed to follow proper procedures when, at the start of the new legislature in September, it restructured the system of parliamentary standing committees, increasing their number from eight to 11.
The decision followed a complaint by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers, who argued the changes were adopted unilaterally.
In its reasoning, the Court said the use of a fast-track procedure to approve the amendments, without giving minority MPs prior access to the draft, exceeded parliament’s discretion and failed to strike a fair balance between parliamentary autonomy and representative democracy.
It added that both the convening of the plenary session and the expedited procedure undermined the principle of representative democracy, particularly the opposition’s ability to express its views, making the complaint well-founded.
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