Albania’s stalled EU bid will not halt judicial reform

Significance Rama’s remarks followed the arrest of Lushnja Mayor Fatos Tushe, accused of abuse of office regarding public procurement. A more proactive policy against corruption and organised crime, reflecting judicial reform, has prompted the Dutch parliament to remove its veto on Albania’s EU accession talks. Impacts Consolidation of the rule of law, while sluggish, has gained its own momentum and will result in more prominent politicians facing justice. A vigorous corruption crackdown could disrupt public services if corrupt but experienced officials are replaced and others become fearful. A more stable and predictable legal environment could encourage increased foreign direct investment in the medium term.

Subject Judicial reform. Significance Although the necessary legislative and constitutional changes for judicial reform are in place, implementation is lagging and Albania's legal environment remains one of the most insecure in Europe. After missing a February deadline, the government has pledged to launch a reconstituted High Judicial Council and High Prosecutorial Council without delay, leading to the appointment of a permanent prosecutor general. Impacts EU and US legal experts are supporting reforms which have explicit EU and US backing. A secure legal environment would attract investment and boost economic development by 35% over the long term (IMF estimate). Conversely, failure would leave any investor in dispute with a member of the political or economic elite with little legal security.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Mirko Pečarič

Purpose Fit and misfit (F&M) affect thoughts, actions and implementation. Both concepts are unknown in the law or in the public administration; so, this paper aims to demonstrate how these concepts can be addressed from the legal point of view. Design/methodology/approach F&M have not yet been addressed from a legal point of view. To determine a connection between them, the rule of law, F&M is compared with the indexes of happiness and life satisfaction. The claim that F&M can be more objectively stated in regulation that must be based on public participation is tested with Google Trends. Google Trends gave data on the searched notions (regulation, participation, organisation and misfit), for which statistical calculations are made to establish relations between them. Findings F&M are an intangible capital with which the rule of law is tightly connected. Citizens are happy and satisfied in countries with a high rank on the rule of law and vice versa. Correlations are positive for the misfit and regulation, participation and organisation, regulation and organisation and regulation and participation, while those for misfit and organisation are low. Google search therefore denies the strongest connection between misfit and organisation that is in the centre of F&M literature. Originality/value F&M have not yet been addressed from a legal point of view, although they have a lot of similarity if not the same. Based on this predisposition, this paper refutes some “romantic” ideas about person–environment and person–organisation fit, and it gives opposite arguments from the public law point of view. The paper tries to point to optimal specificity for fit in a legal environment based on proposed indicators and gives directions for further research.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uchechukwu Nwoke ◽  
Ibenaku Harford Onoh

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the correlation between the rule of law and the efficient functioning of capital markets. It attempts to examine the Nigerian capital market and how the rule of law can be used to prevent fraud and promote the proper functioning of the market. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts the doctrinal approach through a critical evaluation of concepts. Using existing literature in the subject area, it evaluates the inter-connectedness between law and the capital market and how the rule of law is an important instrument in capital market development. Findings The paper finds that there have been numerous infractions of the rule of law by capital market actors, leading to stultification in the growth and development of this sector of the Nigerian economy. Originality/value The paper offers a fresh insight into the correlation between the rule of law and capital markets. By critically assessing the inter-connectivity between the two concepts, it extends the body of knowledge in this area by showing how the operations of the Nigerian capital market could be improved through the proper application of the rule of law.


Author(s):  
Hendrik Van As

Certain marine living resources of South Africa are under severe threat from international organised crime syndicates in conjunction with local fishers. These criminal activities erode respect for the rule of law and lead to socio-economic degradation and the proliferation of gangsterism. The current government approach as custodians of the resources is to maximise the return from confiscations. SAPS are not using the full power of the law to address poaching of marine living resources, particularly abalone, as a priority crime and do not allocate their resources commensurate with the value of the commodity. As a country that is beleaguered by fisheries crime, overfishing and exploitation, South Africa must take a tough stance and should pursue criminal organisations with all the power that the state can muster. It must also ensure that national fisheries resource management is improved so that local communities can benefit. The implementation of a conforming strategy would be socially and politically unpopular, but the future benefits will outweigh the outlay.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryuta Hagiwara

Purpose This paper aims to highlight key challenges to the rule of law in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach This study deploys a historical and legal approach to explore the key challenges to the rule of law in Hong Kong. In particular, this paper analyzes legal conflicts in Hong Kong. Findings The findings show how the rule of law in Hong Kong has become a prominent battlefield of a constitutional struggle between Hong Kong Law and Chinese Law. Originality/value This paper hypothesizes that the conflicts arise from the different interpretations and conceptualizations of the rule of law between China and Hong Kong.


Headline POLAND: Compromise over the rule of law is likely


Author(s):  
Peters Anne

This chapter provides an overview of the state of the art of legal thought about the international organizations (IOs) as legal entities in a legal environment. IOs are legal communities in a threefold sense: they are created by law, they use law as a means of governance, and they should be governed by the rule of law. Accordingly, international law constitutes, enables, and constrains IOs. The chapter shows that legal scholarship until the 1990s was primarily concerned with the constituting and enabling function of the law (thus securing the effectiveness of IOs), while the more recent legal concern is the constraining function of the law (thus improving the accountability of IOs). In the procedural law of organizations, a tryptichon of accountability procedures has been built: transparency, participation, and access to information.


2020 ◽  
pp. 118-145
Author(s):  
Xiaoqun Xu

Chapter 5 examines the continuation of the legal-judicial reform and its achievements and limitations under the Beijing government (1912–1927) and the Guomindang (GMD, or Nationalist Party) government (1927–1949). The Beijing government tried to implement an ambitious reform plan but failed to materialize it completely due to a lack of resources, among other problems. The GMD continued the reform but also instituted practices particular to its ideology of ruling the country through the party, including the invention of political offenses and their punishments through special laws and special courts. The durability of positive reform outcomes in those years is shown in the way the Chinese judiciary functioned in the Japanese-occupied territories during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-98
Author(s):  
Christoph Krönke

Abstract The State bears a certain responsibility for the consequences of digitalizing public administration and services. The principles of democracy and the rule of law demand that the state retains effective control over the digitalized performance of ist tasks. This “digital responsibility” of the State also has an impact on the application of public procurement rules governing the procurement of information technologies and services (IT). On the one hand, ensuring digital responsibility will often mean that the contracting authority needs a broad margin of appreciation when interpreting the rules of procurementlaw – for examplewith regard to the legal requirements for choosing special procurement procedures enabling a particulary flexible IT procurement. On the other hand, the contracting authority’s digital responsibility can also be turned against it: When involving, for instance, private parties in the preparation of substantial decisions concerning the procurement of IT, the authority must keep itself well informed and may not simply take over prepared decisions. This way, the digital responsibility of the State can be (and should be) used as a distinct legal argument under public procurement law.


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