High levels of corruption and incompetence within the judiciary and the prosecutorial system, recently led Kosovo’s government to propose to, first, conduct a vetting process of the country’s judges and prosecutors and, second, to create a system of continuous evaluation of their performance and integrity.

The proposal does have some positive characteristics, most notably, a gradual vetting process, that would be done in three phases, and the inclusion of financial information within the areas that would be investigated when judges and prosecutors are screened.

However, the proposal is still at an early and incomplete stage, as it leaves several procedural issues unanswered, all of which will have to be addressed if the process is to be a fair, independent and impartial one. In addition, considering that vetting is an exceptional measure, it is not completely clear if this is justified in the current context. Lastly, there are also doubts as to whether there is wide political and public support for the process and, thus, if the Executive’s proposal will be able to get the required parliamentary votes to move forward.