On November 20, Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) held a Press Conference on the topic: “Implementing the Principles of the Rule of Law based on the Council of Europe Checklist: Results and challenges in Kosovo”, held in Pristina.

During this press conference, GLPS published the First Edition of the Assessment Report which reveals the results of monitoring and evaluation on Kosovo’s progress in achieving the implementation of the principles based on the Rule of Law Checklist created by the Commission of Venice to the Council of Europe.

GLPS has conducted an assessment of the Rule of Law sector in Kosovo, based on the Venice Commission’s Rule of Law Assessment checklist. The report covers the period May-October 2021, but is not limited only to this period and also addresses problems that have been present for several years now. The methodology of this report is based on the Venice Commission checklist and contains 5 elements; where each element is operationalized in the context of Kosovo. Of the 5 items on the list, each contains subcategories with specific questions. The constituent elements of the checklist are: 1. Legality; 2. Legal security; 3. Prevention of abuse of power; 4. Equality before the law and non-discrimination, 5. Access to justice. The assessment was made from the point of view of Kosovo’s constitutional provisions, laws, bylaws and rules of procedure as well as the distinction between written law and its implementation.

The average overall grade of fulfillment of all the criteria of the checklist for the period (May-October 2021) is 55.96% compared to 54.2% as it was in the assessment made in 2018 by GLPS.

From the 5 categories the evaluations for each are as follows. Equality before the Law is rated with the highest points, with a total of 85%. On the other hand, the category Prevention of Abuse (Abuse) of Power resulted in the lowest score with 37.5% of compliance. This low percentage is attributed to the fact that combating this phenomenon through prosecution and sanctioning of persons who abuse public authority / power has almost failed in its entirety. Legislation and provisions exist in relation to the requirements of this category, but there has been a clear lack of action in practice in recent years when it comes to mechanisms for preventing, correcting and sanctioning abuse of discretionary power. All other categories scored an optimal (average) score, including Legality with 44.28%, Legal Security with 53, 33%, and Access to Justice with 59.70%.

These results prove once again that ensuring transparency, accountability, inclusiveness and efficiency through the principles of the Rule of Law must be essential for public institutions. Furthermore, the fact that ensuring the rule of law is a constant task that must be kept under constant evaluation but also improved to achieve the standards as set out in the rule of law checklist must be taken into account. This result shows, among other things, that there is still a gap between the written legal framework and reality. Even after 13 years of independence, Kosovo continues to face the same challenges and difficulties in the Rule of Law sector. Kosovo legislation meets almost all EU standards and remains in the process of harmonization with the Acquis, but on the other hand no serious efforts are made to implement them in practice. As such, there is an ongoing need to improve the coordination and oversight of policies and legislation that guarantee the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms.

In general, in Kosovo the obvious stagnation in the Rule of Law is observed between a legal provision which is good enough and clear but which is very little implemented in practice. In addition, it is evident that there is a need to build citizens’ trust in Rule of Law institutions.

The full report can be downloaded here.

This activity is organized within the framework of the project titled: “BOOSTING EFFICIENCY: Monitoring and assessing the implementation of rule of law principles’ in Kosovo on the basis of the Council of Europe Rule of Law Checklist”, financed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kosovo, through MATRA Programme.