A small group composed by 4 experts of the Ombudsman Institution is considering 190 application forms submitted by the candidates for the vetting bodies. They have been trained to verify applicants’ compliance with legal criteria for the new institutions that will assess judges and prosecutors. 

An element that catches the eye is the inclusion in this list of former-Attorney General, Ina Rama, Parliament’s General Secretary, Albana Shtylla, the High Council of Justice (HJC) member, Sokol Çomo, former-High Court chairwoman, Shpresa Beçaj, former-Director of Tirana Road Police, Krenar Ahmeti, and former-Deputy Attorney General, Fatos Dervishi. 

All 190 applicants, and some whose application is expected to arrive by mail, compete for 27 places in the new vetting bodies, but not everyone may present the candidacy.

According to the vetting law candidates should comply with a total of 11 criteria, but in order to make this competition even harder the law foresees 5 additional criteria, mostly related to the professional aspect and academic life of the candidates.

The Ombudsman Institution group of experts will draft two lists within a 7-days period of time. The first will include the candidates that meet formal criteria while the 2nd one those that no do not comply with those criteria.

The entire process will be followed by the International Monitoring Operation (IMO) that has full access to the candidates’ documentation. 

Ombudsman Institution active role ends next week when both lists will be handed over to the international observers. The next two weeks will be the more interesting ones due to the fact that this the time when IMO decision-making process will take place. 

The constitution and the law give to the international observers the right to prepare a third list, a “Black List” that may include even candidates that meet formal criteria. 

Name’s removal from this black list is practically impossible, on view of the fact that 5 from a total of 6 votes from the special parliamentary committee members are needed. This committee will include three majority representatives and three opposition’s representatives.