The Venice Commission declared in its decision taken for the case of the mandate of socialist MP, Olta Xhacka, that the decisions of the Constitutional Court in Albania should be implemented.

After the ruling majority refused to accept the decision of CC, on mandate of Xhacka and asked the opinion of the Venice Commission the answer was made public today.

“When a decision of the Constitutional Court interprets the Constitution as limiting the decision-making powers of Parliament, the latter must adopt the decision in accordance with the judgment of the Court and vote on the limited issue, as determined by the Constitutional Court,” the Venice Commission’s conclusions state.

The Commission argues that the implementation of Constitutional Court decisions is based on the principle of “fidelity to the Constitution as an element of the rule of law.” Experts interpret this not as an obligation for MPs to vote in a certain way, but as “an essential requirement of the rule of law.”

The socialist MP is accused of having granted “strategic investor” status to her husband, Artan Gaçi, who is building a hotel in Dhërmi, while she was Foreign Minister of Albania. Later, through a government decision, the hotel was granted the right to long-term use of the seashore.

Xhaçka insists that she is not in a conflict of interest, has not benefited from a single centimeter of state land or any other public benefit.

The clash between the Assembly and the Constitutional Court has been ongoing for almost two years, as the parliamentary majority has repeatedly delayed the decision-making on this issue, refusing to send to the Court for review the motion to review the constitutionality of Xhaçka’s mandate, requested by the opposition.

In July of this year, the Constitutional Court issued a decision in which it accused the parliamentary majority of having violated the constitution and undermined the foundations of the state.