Prime Minister Edi Rama has launched one of his strongest public attacks against two key links in the governance of the justice system, the High Prosecutorial Council and the High Judicial Council. In a public appearance in which he targeted their performance, he labeled them the “face of the failure of justice reform,” while also turning the debate toward salaries and the standards expected of state officials.
A direct blow against two key institutions
During today’s meeting, Rama openly criticized the work of the HPC and HJC, two institutions that play a central role in the functioning and administration of the justice system.
According to his statement, if SPAK, the Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime, or other structures are presented as examples of the reform’s success, then the HPC and HJC represent the opposite side of the balance sheet. With this formulation, the head of government placed political and institutional responsibility precisely on the bodies that are supposed to guarantee the governance of the judiciary and the prosecution service.
The salary debate was used as a political argument
Rama also tied his criticism of the two councils to claims of insufficient salaries. According to him, if officials whose salaries are several times higher than those in the administration say they are dissatisfied, then dissatisfaction at the lower levels of the state becomes even more understandable.
This comparison served a broader political message: the government is trying to present the salary debate not simply as a financial issue, but as part of the relationship between compensation and responsibility in public institutions.
Accusations also over the lack of punishment for poor performance
Along the same line, Rama also drew attention to a problem that, according to his version, is mentioned by public administration employees: the lack of punishment for poor performance.
He argued that this issue has become as much of a concern as salaries, suggesting that the problem lies not only in the level of pay, but also in the way accountability functions within institutions.
A political message beyond justice
The prime minister’s statements go beyond ordinary administrative criticism. When the HPC and HJC are described by the head of government himself as symbols of failure, this also raises the question of the real balance sheet of justice reform, a reform that has for years been promoted as one of the main pillars of the ruling majority.
At the same time, Rama praised part of the public administration, saying that state employees have excelled in representing Albania in Brussels during processes related to EU integration. This gave his statement a clear contrast: harsh criticism for the leaders of the justice system and praise for part of the central administration.
The verbal clash with the HPC and HJC brings back to the center the debate over the concrete results of justice reform, especially in the links that do not directly produce investigations or rulings, but bear the weight of governing the system.
When such criticism comes from the prime minister himself, the issue no longer remains simply dissatisfaction over salaries, but shifts to the responsibility of institutions that for years have been at the heart of promises for a more functional justice system.