Prime Minister Edi Rama stated in his speech at the meeting of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group that the suspension of a minister by a court constitutes open interference in the legislative branch.

He also referred to the request by the Association of Judges at the Constitutional Court for salary increases, describing it as an intervention in the competencies of the legislative branch in a country that, as he said, has three powers independent from one another.

“What is it, if not brutal interference, when a minister is suspended by a prosecutor and a judge, by decision of a preliminary hearing without a trial — something unheard of in world history? What is it, if not crippling interference in the territory of the legislative branch, when an association representing members of the judiciary seeks to raise its own salaries through the courts? Since when in the history of republics with three branches of power has the judiciary calculated salaries and determined a country’s wage or tax policies?

However, the hope is that this phase will be temporary. We will not have a functional state or a public administration unafraid to make decisions — even for the purchase of toilet paper. This is a fact; I chose this example deliberately because it is the most tragicomic. I repeat, these are lessons that other countries have learned with certain delays. Albania does not have the luxury of delaying in learning these lessons,” he emphasized.