Back ‘Building a more sustainable legal system on property rights'; DREX-III action kicks off in Albania

Tirana Albania 29 March 2023
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‘Building a more sustainable legal system on property rights';  DREX-III action kicks off in Albania

Within the continuous efforts of the EU and Council of Europe to ensure that the rights-holders in Albania are respected in line with European standards, partners and beneficiaries of the action on “Improving the protection of the right to property and facilitating executions of ECtHR judgements and facilitating the execution of ECtHR judgements in Albania” met in Tirana. They took stock on the achieved results and discussed the continuation during the third phase whicha aims to provide even more targeted support to ensure the sustainability of the achieved results.

During the meeting, participants emphasised the need for a holistic support system for domestic legal professionals at all levels, starting with students, but also for lawyers and judiciary at all lower courts. The focus of the support provided in the context of the action is on the coherent application of existing legislation and quality reference to the European Court of Human Rights standards.

The primary objective of this initiative is to lower the pressure and backlog before the High Instance courts. The participants acknowledged that this is a critical issue that needs to be addressed to ensure the efficient protection of the right to property and the smooth execution of ECtHR judgments.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Albanian Ministry of Justice, State Advocate, High Judicial Council, Agency for the Treatment of Property, representatives of academia and civil society. All participants agreed on the importance of the initiative and the need for a concerted effort to achieve its objectives.

The activity was organised in the framework of the action “Improving the protection of the right to property and facilitating executions of ECtHR judgements and facilitating the execution of ECtHR judgements in Albania” under “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye III”.

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What is the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism?

The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) provides expertise within the Council of Europe system to respond to requests for legislative expertise and policy advice on strengthening justice, fighting economic crime and combating discrimination, as well as freedom of expression and the media, and constitutional issues falling within the mandate of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (known as the Venice Commission). This is done in full respect of the independence and functioning specificities of the Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and provides a key support to accession processes to the EU. If there are Horizontal Facility actions in the field of interest in respective Beneficiary, the request for an expert opinion can be accommodated directly by those actions.

 

Who can make a request for an expert opinion under the ECM?

Ministers (and other members of the government), the speaker of parliament, heads of parliamentary committees, Ombudsperson institutions or independent state institutions of the Beneficiary concerned (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye) can make a request for an expert opinion under the ECM.

Furthermore, specifically for issues which fall within the area of competence of the Venice Commission, the European Union as well as Council of Europe organs (i.e. the Secretary General, Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities) can also submit requests for ECM assistance.

In addition, requests for amicus curiae briefs by the Venice Commission can also be made by constitutional courts.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.