The associations representing Albania’s judges and prosecutors have filed a request with the Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of the new law regulating magistrates’ salaries, approved by Parliament on September 18.

The law was passed with 84 votes in favor and introduces an increase of around 8,500 lekë in the reference salary, equivalent to roughly 2% of the President’s salary.

The increase falls significantly short of the approximately 80,000 lekë increase requested by magistrates and supported by both the High Judicial Council and the High Prosecutorial Council.

The parliamentary vote triggered strong political debate. Prime Minister Edi Rama voted in favor, while opposition leader Sali Berisha was absent during the vote. Twenty-four MPs from his parliamentary group voted against the bill, describing it as a “constitutional coup,” while MP Bujar Leskaj abstained.

The government has also begun work on a separate bill aimed at restructuring the public administration salary system.

Rama has argued that judicial reform has pushed magistrates’ salaries to what he described as “stratospheric” levels and has rejected calls for their salaries to automatically increase alongside those of other public administration employees.

With the new legal challenge, the dispute over magistrates’ salaries now moves from Parliament to the Constitutional Court, which will assess whether the new salary formula complies with Albania’s Constitution.