Constitutional Court decision on Balluk/Balla: The score should have been 8-0

2026-02-12 22:30:00, Aktualitet CNA

The head of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, Taulant Balla, commented on a show on the Constitutional Court's decision on Prime Minister Edi Rama's lawsuit against the suspension of Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku.

Balla stressed that the court's decision ended with a 4-4 score, which according to him constitutes a "non-decision" and does not create binding jurisprudence. According to Balla, the decision in this case should have been 8-0.

He added that the judges are divided on how to resolve the violation: four have proposed that the Court decide itself, while four others have requested intervention from the legislator.

He also underlined that the Constitutional Court's decisions show that the Socialist Party and Prime Minister Edi Rama have no control over justice.

"As for the decisions of the Constitutional Court, they are the best example to prove that the Socialist Party and Edi Rama do not have any control over justice as claimed. The fact is that in two, a government proposal, for something that was not at all political in nature, was a request of a nature to return normality to the Municipality of Tirana, in the conditions that the same article had been violated, which we will talk about a little later. Why do I say this? Because it is said that elected officials cannot be suspended.

The question is, has Erion Veliaj been in office for a year or suspended? He has not been in office. If we had respected the spirit of the Code, as long as the elected person has a contract with the citizens, he should have been in office. I am speaking de facto, that when the Constitutional Court says Veliaj is in office, Erion Veliaj is in prison today. Let's go back to the other part, to the decision of the Constitutional Court, which is the main case for which I would like you to give me a little opportunity to explain it properly.

The decisions of the Constitutional Court are determined to be made by 5 members, it can be 4 with 3 if there is no decision. There must be 6 members in the meeting, although to be honest, as a norm this is an old norm. Meanwhile, in the new norms that we have introduced into the concept in other institutions, it would have been good if in the case of a vacancy the vote of the chairman was counted.

So, the legislator should have foreseen an unblocking mechanism, although the Assembly should bear responsibility for the delay it has created for 2 years in replacing the mandate of Ms. Toska, who has resigned. It is a mistake.

I have said it publicly and I will say it again today, I don't know and I don't want to go into it at all, we have a rule here that is a law for us that we do not comment on the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but I am telling you that this case is one of those that should have been 8 to 0 because the judges themselves have accepted their opinion in what they have published, 4 say there is a violation but we should decide, 4 others say there is a violation but the constitutional legislator should decide.

The Constitutional Court had every opportunity to say: Yes, the minister cannot be suspended, but we could not make a decision on how to resolve this issue. Because 4 said let's resolve it with our jurisprudence, and 4 said let the assembly decide by intervening in legislation. That's what they said! And you will say, well, what are you going to do? Because there is a decision without a decision, there is a non-decision.

The non-decision has not created jurisprudence. So, we are not in the conditions that we have to take a decision of the Constitutional Court to implement it because it is a non-decision. But, we again in the findings of the members of the Constitutional Court, those who are paid with the taxes of the Albanian people as the cream of the judiciary in the Republic of Albania, again there we see that you see, they did not take responsibility, "said Balla.