The two-day meeting of the seventh Stabilization-Association Committee
between the European and Albanian Parliaments was held for discussing
the political and economic developments of the past six months.
The talks focused on the implementation of the Civil Service Law, the independence of institutions such as the High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets, the Institution of Statistics and the Audiovisual Media Authority. It also focused on the fight against corruption even in high levels and the judiciary reforms. The European Commission gave the assessments made so far before reporting at the European Union Council, which will decide in June for the candidate status.
Jean Eric Paquet, Director for Balkan, European Council: “I think that there has not been enough work on the judiciary reform, but this is a major challenge for the administration. In this sense, the readiness to be advised with the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe is considered very positive. I want to underline the progress in the Civil Service reform, based on the law that was passed last year with consensus between the majority and the government of that time, and that will enter in effect on April 1st, based on the secondary legislation that has been prepared. Some of it has already been approved. Two points are essential for the European Commission. First of all, a guarantee is needed for transparency and for respecting the applicable legislation when the public administration is restructured. Secondly, the continuity of this work must be preserved, especially for the capacities that treat the reforms which are related to the European Union integration. The construction of a depoliticized administration, and based on merit, is a challenge for several countries of the region and especially for Albania, due to the long politicization history of the public administration. We hope that there will be political will between the parties.
Fatmir Xhafaj, SP: “We hope and believe that the opposition will play its active role in this all-inclusive process for the respective parliamentary Commission, because the judiciary reform is important for our country and the integration process.
Eduart Halimi, DP: “The anti-mafia package which was propagated as a fight against corrupted Ministers and Parliament Members has no article that specifies the fight against government corruption. It has only three categories: Judges, Prosecutors and Local Government Leaders, turning into a scourge for the independent institutions and for political adversaries”.
Taulant Balla, SP: “Even if a high-rank official is found guilty of corruption in Albania, his assets would remain intact. You may end for two or three years in prison, but the state would not be able to seize the millions made through corruption. With these changes, corruption will be considered as a serious crime and not only the punishment will be with several years in prison, but all assets and bank accounts will be seized, and this is a huge step”.
Gert Bogdani, DP: “At the end of the day, we all should work together and with your help we will make the government return to the standards, on the right path. This will be not because of the Democratic Party or the opposition, because if it was for us, the more mistakes Mr.Rama does, the better it would be with the votes, since politics is all about votes. But it will be for the sake of our country and of the Albanian people”.
Vassilis Maragos, Head of the Unit for Albania, European Council:”I think that it is essential to have a close coordination between the different law enforcing institutions. Corruption cannot be fought effectively if one part of the chain doesn’t work properly. For this reason, we insist in continuing the judiciary reform, so that we can guarantee depoliticized appointments at the Supreme Court, and so that we can have a professional and competent judiciary which works and acts correctly. This goes for the Prosecution too. An important matter for all of you who are or who have been in government – because we have discussed this several times – is having a solid statistic base so that we can have something to analyze and something to talk about, not only in general, but also in details. So that we can understand who does what in this chain, and so that we can understand if the fight against corruption is going on the right path, or if there are constant problems”.
Aldo Bumçi, DP: “The Investigative Program of Top Channel, Fiks Fare, which is also present here, is known by everyone who follows the Albanian politics as strong supporters of the Socialist Party and strong critics of the Democratic Party for eight years. They broadcasted images of a procedure for purchasing votes at the Socialist Party headquarters, to guarantee that the new voters would chose their candidate in the local elections of Korce, in exchange of cash”.
Majlinda Bregu, DP: “If we try to give a panorama of a happy life and happy procedures, and that everything is going well in Albania, we would not be sincere to each other and would not respect the European Union integration process, and its principle that this process is based on merits”.
Victor Bostinaru, S&D: “I think that Albania deserves the candidate status, but for some internal reasons, some member countries decided for the opposite. This is not necessarily honest, but we don’t live “in vitro”, but in a real political terrain. What I would plead you is to stop this Albanian ballade, if you don’t want to add more damages to a country that has paid for so long”.
The Albanian ballade ended with a half-joint-declaration, three hours after the time decided by the European Parliament secretariat, precious time taken from the agenda of the only European Parliament Member remaining on the floor, at the height of his electoral campaign, Co-Chairman Eduard Kukan, without translators, microphones, cameras or even the certainty to catch the already paid flight to Tirana.
The negative tendency of the Albanian economy during Summer 2013 was recognized by everyone. The opposition invited a balanced representation in the high-level dialogue with Brussels and the consolidation of independent institutions. Kukan resisted for five of his nine amends, while the left centered parties agreed with them.
The majority and opposition will summon the Integration Parliamentary Commission next Tuesday for discussing the other drafted matters. The result will be communicated to the European parties.
Prepared by: ARTA TOZAJ
Top Channel
