EC: Albania does not fulfill any criteria

Besides praising the Albanian citizens for not abusing with the free visa regime, the Commission, which has not received yet from Albania the action plan for implementing the 12 key criteria, states that our country has not fulfilled any of these criteria.

The report that is expected to be one of the harshest in the history of EU-Albania relations, will give a special focus to the electoral process, especially to the legal vagueness of CEC decision for counting miscast ballots.

“There are concerns about the way this decision was taken in the post-counting phase. But it is important that the process of appeals and complaints must to be conducted calmly, by fully respecting institutional rules. I think that the issue of legal accuracy for this step that has been taken by CEC, clearly needs to be solved in a transparent, honest and legal way, by respecting the Albanian law. Not only the words of the legislation on paper, but also the spirit of the Albanian legislation”, declared Marta Garcia Fidalgo, head of the Unit for Albania in the Enlargement Directory for the European Commission.

The European Commission gave its evaluation for the 12 conditions that must be fulfilled by Albania, leaving a special space for the evaluation of the Electoral Process.

“I think that the situation today is less brilliant than two years ago.

The key priority number one: for us, this Parliament does not function as it should.

The priority number three regards the approval of legislations that require qualified majority. This goes for the assignment of the Ombudsman and members of Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, which require qualified majority.

The fourth priority of the Opinion regards the importance for modifying the legal frame in accordance with OSCE-ODIHR recommendations. The reality is that these modifications have not been made.

As for the fifth key priority, the one of guaranteeing elections that fulfill European and international standards, allow me to treat this priority at the end.

The sixth priority, the recruitment in civil services, continues to be made with non transparent procedures.

The key priority no. 7: corruption in the judicial system remains a great concern.

Priority no. 8 regards corruption punishment. Investigations on corruption cases are not progressing as we expected. This causes that in general, corruption cases in Albania remain unpunished. Therefore, corruption is still a big issue in Albania.

Key priority no.9: I think that war against drug and human traffic remains problematic.

Key priority no.10: about property rights. We realize that there is a small progress in this field. This is also very important for common citizens and investments, so more work needs to be done.

Key priority 11: we have noted the incident that happened with Roma people this February.

The last key priority, no.12: I think that there has been no progress in treating the prisoners with mental health problems.

We note that there have been concerns about the excessive violence that police has exerted during the arrests made after January 21st events.

Now allow me to return to the election issue. We can evaluate it in different phases. I think that the pre-election period was characterized by a high political polarization. There was clear mistrust between political parties and confrontational behavior. But I think that it is right to recognize that there has been a competitive and transparent voting process. The problems appeared in the counting process, when they had to announce tabulates and deal with the complaints and appeals.

All these levels will be clarified when we will come with the progress report this October. I think that the concern for the miscast ballots will be key in the end”, Fidalog underlined.

The second part of this preparatory meeting of the European Parliament delegation for Southeastern Europe was held within closed doors.

The European Parliament Members will meet their Albanian colleagues on June 14th and 15th in Brussels.

Both parties know each other better now, after the two previous meetings, both of which failed to give a common final agreement.

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