The Constitutional Court partially accepts the new regulation of the Assembly, abolishes the 30-day sentence

The Constitutional Court has partially accepted the new regulation of the Assembly, overturning the point where MPs are expelled for 30 days when they use violence against other MPs, and it remains in force for 10 days.

Notice from the Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court, convened today, on 19.06.2024, considered the case with the object of repealing the provisions of the Regulations of the Assembly of Albania, amended by decision no. 126/2023 of the Assembly of Albania.

The court first considered the question of its jurisdiction for the examination of the provisions subject to the request. In this regard, the Court did not question the principle of regulatory autonomy of the Assembly, recognizing the latter's constitutional right to determine the rules within the principle of its functionality.

However, since the claims presented by the applicant, in essence, are not only related to the rights of the deputy as an individual, but to the exercise of his function as a representative of the people, the Court, on its own initiative, decided to see the case in terms of respecting the principle of representative democracy, according to Article 2 of the Constitution, which provides for the exercise of the people's sovereignty through its representatives, as well as the principle of proportionality, in terms of the appropriateness and severity of disciplinary measures, and, for this reason, came to the conclusion, unanimously, that it has jurisdiction to examine the concrete case in terms of preserving constitutional principles and values, the protection of which is the main function of this Court.

In relation to the merits of the case, the Court considered examining only the content of those disputed provisions of the Rules of the Assembly, which, due to their content, could violate the principle of representative democracy and did not constitute regulations of that nature, which remain within the regulatory autonomy of the Assembly.

In conclusion, the Court decided to partially accept the request, revoking the following provisions of the Assembly Regulation:

Unanimously, article 65/1, point 6, letter "a", with content: "when the deputy uses violence against other deputies, members of the Council of Ministers, employees of the session service, the Guard of the Republic or media workers". due to the ambiguity of this norm, which can lead to arbitrariness in its application, since for the same reasons (violence against deputies) the same article also provides for a 10-day exclusion from participation in commissions and/or plenary session.

Unanimously, article 65/1, point 7, letters "b" and "c".

In relation to the letter "b" of point 7 of article 65/1, with content: "when the deputy performs actions/behavior that are suspected of containing elements of a criminal offense, provided for in the Criminal Code", the Court assessed that it carries ambiguity in the wording regarding the suspicion of elements of the criminal offense.

In relation to the letter "c" of point 7 of article 65/1, with the content "when the deputy commits repeatedly within a parliamentary session the violations provided for in point 6", the Court assessed that the measure is disproportionate in terms of appropriateness and severity of her.

By majority vote, article 65/1, point 9, with content: "During the period of implementation of the disciplinary measure provided for in points 6 and 7 of this article, the deputy is prohibited from performing any other activity as a member of the Assembly.", since he constitutes a new disciplinary measure in contradiction with the very title of this article "Measure of exclusion from committees and plenary sessions", predicting the extension of the measure to other parliamentary activities, which are foreseen listed in article 40 of the Rules of the Assembly.

As for the other provisions opposed by the applicant, the Court assessed that he did not bring constitutional arguments in terms of violating the principle of representative democracy, so it decided to dismiss the request for that part.