High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani and his counterpart inspectors, Mr. Lucian Netejoru, Chief Inspector of the Judicial Inspection of Romania, Ms. Martine Bardet from the General Inspectorate of Justice in France and Mr. Luis Jardim from Inspectorate of Justice at the Judicial High Council of Portugal visited the Albanian Parliament, where they met with the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Ms. Ermonela Felaj and the chairwoman of the Commission on Legal Affairs Ms. Klotilda Bushka.
Ms. Felaj and Ms. Bushka made a presentation on justice reform and the role of the new institutions established by it. Appreciating the role of the High Inspector of Justice, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly said: “Inspector Metani has considered his work both a professional and personal challenge because in a short period of time he has faced difficulties with a high impact and it has not been easy.”
The chairwoman of the Commission on Legal Affairs said that the Albanian Parliament supports the needs of justice institutions, including the HIJ, so that they can perform better and independently. “The fact that they report to the Assembly has nothing to do with intervention in their independence,” said Ms. Bushka.
Ms. Bardet said that the General Inspectorate of Justice in France, which heads the European Network of Inspection Services, part of which are her colleagues who are visiting Albania, is ready to share the Network standards and experiences with Albania, and the two-day training conducted by four French, Italian and Romanian inspectors with the team of inspectors and assistant inspectors of the HIJ Office is the first step.
Speaking about Romania’s experience, with a completely independent Judicial Inspection, Judge Netejoru said that the mission of their inspections is to serve the judiciary to improve its activity and give a credible justice to the public.
While Judge Inspector Jardim pointed out that there are similarities between Albania and Portugal in terms of recruiting magistrate inspectors with high professional and legal qualities and praised the work done by High Inspector Metani. “The wonderful effort that Mr. Metani is making together with the other inspectors, may be misunderstood now, but in the near future time will show they were right,” said Mr. Jardim.
High Inspector of Justice Metani praised the established cooperation with the European colleagues part of the European Network of Inspection Services and the commitment of the SEJ III project of the Council of Europe, which is supporting the High Inspector of Justice Office to strengthen its professional capacity.
