The Constitutional Court overturns 13 laws, including the one on the confiscation of unjustified property

2026-01-09 20:00:38, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo's highest court annulled 13 laws on Friday, including the Law on the Bureau for Verification and Confiscation of Unjustified Assets, saying that the Assembly had violated the rules when it passed them in December 2024.

In a press release, the Constitutional Court said that the laws in question are not in accordance with the country's Constitution, after finding that the rules on governance, separation of powers, values, exercise of function, rules of procedure and committees were violated when MPs approved them in the Assembly.

The Constitutional Court's decision comes after a complaint filed by several MPs from the opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK).

This is the second time that the Constitutional Court has overturned the Law on Verification and Confiscation of Unjustified Assets, following the 2024 decision.

After the first decision, the then Government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti made amendments to the Law in September 2024 and then sent them to the Parliament in December, where the MPs of this party approved them.

The law intended that all public officials in Kosovo would be subject to asset verification if there were suspicions that it had been acquired illegally.

The Constitutional Court said in its decision on Friday that it repealed the Law on the Bureau because it was approved with "serious procedural and constitutional violations."

According to her, the Assembly unjustifiably used the deviation from procedural deadlines, not giving deputies and committees time for review, debate and amendments, in violation of Articles 74, 76 and 77 of the Constitution.

Acting Minister of Justice, Blerim Sallahu, criticized the Constitutional Court and said that "we can finally say that, despite obstacles from actors with certain goals, the confiscation of unjustified assets will begin this year!"

"It is illegal, unprofessional and unethical that such an important law for combating crime and corruption of public officials is kept in the Court's drawers for more than a year just for procedural issues! Such delays violate the exclusive constitutional powers of the Government and the Assembly in approving laws," Sallahu wrote on Facebook on Friday.

In addition to the one on the Bureau for Confiscation of Assets, 12 other laws were repealed for the same reasons.

Naim Jakaj from the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) said that the 12 laws approved by the Assembly on December 5, 2024 "may be very good and important, but the procedure followed has been fatal for violating parliamentary procedure."

He added that the Assembly approved these 12 laws "through a process that violated parliamentary democracy and the rule of law."

The Constitutional Court said that laws adopted by the Assembly on December 5, 2024 are unconstitutional due to procedural violations during the law-making process.

For these 12 laws, the approval in first and second reading within the same day without proper review by parliamentary committees violated the principles of separation of powers and legal certainty, guaranteed by Articles 4 and 7 of the Constitution, she said.

The court emphasized that expedited procedures are only permitted in urgent cases such as national security or a state of emergency, but these laws did not meet these conditions, resulting in a lack of transparency and predictability.

It concluded that the Assembly did not respect the deadlines of the Rules of Procedure, adopting laws without allowing sufficient time for amendments and parliamentary debate.

"This violation of Article 76 of the Constitution, which requires the Assembly to act according to its rules of procedure, prevented the deputies from exercising their function as provided for in Article 74," she stressed.

PDK deputies also complained about these 12 laws in the Constitutional Court./REL