TIRANA, Jan. 18 – In a sign of enduring frictions, President Bujar Nishani has made several decisions opposing the governing Socialist Party-led coalition’s requests, particularly relating to justice system reform.
President Nishani vetoed a draft law that would allow the government to get loans without the approval of the parliament, but presidential vetoes in Albania are week and parliament can override them with a simple majority vote.
In another move, he also nominated two judges for the Supreme Court at a time when the Socialists have openly said they won’t approve any presidential nominations unless they are done under a new law they passed the previous month which creates a board that would propose the new nominees for the top posts at the Supreme and Constitutional Courts.
But that law has yet to be decreed by Nishani, and he is likely to exercise the veto power again. He has said he won’t accept the new law until the full process for its approval takes place.
But the parliament, dominated by the Socialist majority, finds it no problem to revote the laws again and then the president is obliged only to formally sign the decree or to let it become law in silence.
The president and the government, in power since September 2013, have been in continuous open frictions for the passing of the laws, the nomination of the top diplomats and the like.
Presidents under Albania’s constitution are supposed to be politically neutral, but in practice most have been elected by the parties in power at the time of their election and have largely leaned in favor of the political force that elected them. Nishani is a former high official of the Democratic Party, currently in opposition.
