The Government of Kosovo’s decision to appoint new members of the Commission for the Bar Exam sparked debate in the Committee on Legislation between MPs from the ruling party and the opposition. While members of the committee from the governing party considered it a justified decision, stating that the Commission had not held any bar examination, opposition MPs said that such a decision to dismiss commission members without individual justification only happens in a dictatorship, KosovaPress reports.
The discussion began when LVV MP Vigan Qorrolli proposed adding the item to the agenda, but this was not approved as PDK MP Përparim Gruda and AAK MP Besnik Tahiri did not participate in the vote.
Committee member Vigan Qorrolli said that, based on the Commission’s failure to hold the bar exam, the Ministry of Justice concluded that the composition of the Bar Exam Commission needed to be changed.
“Since this commission has failed to hold the exam, I am referring to equality of candidates and their merit and to all violations of the fundamental rights of young lawyers who aim to take this exam, then the Ministry of Justice has come to the conclusion that this commission should be changed because it does not function like this, not holding the exam for a year makes no sense, when the law says at least four times a year is required, it is discretionary… regarding the legality of the decision, it is clear that it is annulled and the Assembly votes on the new composition led by professionals of the field, because by law it must be judges or career prosecutors with 8 years of experience in the system,” he said.
However, PDK MP Përparim Gruda opposed the proposal to include the item on the agenda, saying that such an unusual change gives the impression that someone failed to pass this exam rather than that the exam was not held.
“When we deal with human rights, the court has said there must be justification for each individual, as here we do not take responsibility for each other, therefore if we want to be in accordance with the law, the government must dismiss the members, propose it and the Assembly must see whether it approves it with individual justification for each of them because they are individuals, and whenever human rights and freedoms are affected the decision must be extremely justified because today we are also talking about their dignity since they are judges who have… Such an unusual change gives more the impression that someone did not pass rather than that the exam was not held, that is the impression it gives me, and I think we cannot vote in this way because we already have a Constitutional Court decision,” he said.
Qorrolli insisted that there is no stronger reason for changing the composition of this Commission than its failure to hold the bar exam for one year.
AAK MP Besnik Tahiri requested clarification on why the commission was dismissed when its members still had mandates.
“But I think that I and the chair have no theoretical chance to participate in this vote until we are given a one- or two-page interpretation. I have absolutely no problem with names or the process if it is as Vigan says, I believe it is so, that for one year it has failed, I have no problem accepting this at all, if the commission was an obstacle and with this decision it is being dissolved so that the bar exam can take place, but in order to reach a merit-based position we need something written. I think by putting it to a vote we do not participate in this vote and it does not pass. We are not an organ of the government, we do not submit to government rules, we are a supervisory body of the government and being such we cannot be brought a decision for annulment, you are dismissing people which conflicts with a Constitutional Court decision, I will not do this,” he stated.
He described the reasons given by LVV MP Vigan Qorrolli as political and lacking legal argument for not placing the issue on the agenda.
However, the head of this committee from PDK, Përparim Gruda, stated that such decisions are taken only in “dictatorship” and not in democratic countries.
The Committee on Legislation also approved the Report with amendments from the Functional Committee on the Draft Law on the State Matura Exam and the Report with amendments from the Functional Committee on the Draft Law on the Citizenship of Kosovo.
With 5 votes in favor and two abstentions from opposition MPs, the Committee on Legislation also approved the report with amendments from the Functional Committee on the Draft Law on Temporary Measures for Essential Products in Cases of Special Market Destabilization.
