The debate over salaries in the justice system has returned to the forefront after Prime Minister Edi Rama once again reacted publicly on the issue of judges. This time, he chose to support the government’s position with a comparative table of salaries in the region, while the deadlock over demands for further increases does not appear to have been resolved.
Rama’s reaction in the middle of the debate
In a post on the social network X, Rama published a table that, according to his version, shows that entry-level judges in Albania are paid 500 euros more than their counterparts in Greece.
The prime minister also claims that entry-level judges in Albania rank second in the region in terms of salary level, after those in Romania.
The political message behind the figures
In his reaction, Rama openly opposes the idea of another significant pay rise for judges, presenting the current level as already high compared with countries in the region.
According to his statement, under the disputed decision the salary of an entry-level judge would rise to about 2,000 euros more per month than that of a counterpart in Greece and 3,000 euros more than that of a counterpart in Montenegro.
The deadlock is not closed with a table
Although the government is pushing the debate toward regional comparisons, this does not undo the clash itself over how salaries in the justice system are being handled and the limits of political intervention in this debate.
That is precisely where the core of the issue remains: not only how much judges are paid compared with neighboring countries, but also on what institutional reasoning their further increase is being sought or opposed.
For now, Rama’s reaction keeps the debate on the level of figures and comparisons, while the issue of judges’ salaries remains open.
In the absence of more institutional clarification, the clash continues to be read as another sensitive test of the relationship between the government and the justice system.