Lessons from Albania’s Judicial Vetting for Transitional Societies

This paper examines Albania’s judicial vetting (2016–2024) as an extraordinary accountability mechanism, analysing results from 805 vetted magistrates using operational judicial data. Despite achieving comprehensive personnel transformation (47% magistrate removal norm)¹ validated by European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in 98.9% of cases, three critical dynamics challenged Albanian vetting design: (1) institutional resistance through strategic utilization of legal mechanisms, including 113 resignations that maintain the eligibility of re-appointment after the 15-year ban expires in 2032; (2) operational trade-offs as personnel reduction has dropped judicial capacity to its lowest level by 54%; (3) sustainability gaps as vetting transitional frameworks lacked continuity provisions for the transfer of vetting standards into permanent accountability institutions (HJC and HPC) before vetting bodies mandate expiration in 2026. These dynamics led to the creation of an accountability gap, demonstrated by only a 1.1% conviction rate of vetted magistrates, time-barred cases, coordination failures, evidentiary gaps, resource constraints, and a decline in public trust. Despite structural limitations of vetting design that prioritize short-term transformation over sustainable judicial accountability, overall Albania’s vetting has disrupted past entrenched impunity patterns. For transitional societies, the lesson for vetting design is to ensure institutionalized accountability mechanisms in permanent institutions by simultaneously preserving the judicial capacity.