EP: Tirana on the right track

The head of the European Parliament for Southeastern Europe, Eduard Kukan and the Socialist EMP, Hannes Swoboda, declared for Top Channel that what Albania mostly needs now is war against corruption and a justice system working in full accordance with the European Standards.
 
Top Channel: Mr. Kukan, have you followed the recent development in Albania?

Kukan: I am following it closely and fortunately I can say that we are receiving good news from Albania. Knowing the situation of the country for a long time, I would like to be convinced that this tendency of good news will be permanent. We must say that there have been some movement in the political scene, and everything shows that there is a positive dialogue between the political parties, which must be encouraged by all means.

It happened too late for being included in the EC progress report, but this doesn’t matter. What is happening there is a good thing. We have proofs for this, and we hope that the future will bring more opportunities for confirming this positive trend. We will hold the inter-parliamentary dialogue in Tirana on 8 and 9 December. We hope that this will show that the previous positive signals were not accidental.

Swoboda: I think that these changes are positive and need both sides to come together. I think that Albania has finally understood the message that both political families of the European Parliament have given. Sometimes it takes time until the information goes through the channels of different political groups, but I think that it is important that they have agreed. It is not that simple to speak about the past, why it was not possible before and who did what, but it is possible to talk about the future.

For the future of Albania, the tow main political groups have to work together. There could be fights, incomprehension and differences, but as regards the reforms for the EU integration, they must stay united. It is very important for the perception in Europe that they shouldn’t quarrel about these issues. When Mr. Kukan will be in Albania with the delegation, on December 9th, I as rapporteur for Croatia will be very happy to attend this meeting. It only came because the major political forces came together. That should be an example for Albania.

Top Channel: As you mentioned Croatia, one of the key priorities for Albania is the justice system. Do you think that Albania needs a kind of “sanaderization”, especially as regards corruption?

Swoboda: Albania, the other countries of the region and all Europe need a clear fight against corruption, irrespective of the personality, if he’s a President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister, or some other personality. No one must be exempted from the fight against corruption, trials and activities of the General Prosecution. That has to be absolutely clear.

Kukan: I’d like to repeat what my colleague says, that the fight against corruption and the justice system should work according to the EU standards and should deal with anybody who commits a crime, with any personality, irrespective of the political affiliation, or if he’s standing in the government or whatever. This should be a rule which should be inserted in Albania.

Top Channel: Another issue which is based on the agreement between both Socialist and Democratic Party is to clone the European Parliament standards in the procedures of the national Parliament. What do you think about that? Is it possible to implement European Parliament rules in a national Parliament?

Kukan: It is up to the Albanian politicians to agree on their procedure. In other matters we always tell them about the European procedures, but I don’t think that this is the real issue, if they should copy the European parliament. The European Parliament is completely different, with a different structure. There are representatives of the 27 member states. Maybe some philosophy or principles, but to the concrete situation in Albania, I don’t think that it is necessary to shift to the European Parliament structure.

Swoboda: I think that it would be reasonable to take some of the European Parliament rules. Some of their rules are from some of the national parliaments, and put them together with a well fitted concept for the national Parliament. But what they should clone, so to say, is our attitude to each other and between different political groups. We try to be very constructive, we try to work together, we try to find a way of dialogue, not to attack each other, neither physically and nor with strong words.

Top Channel: Mr. Kuka, as head of the delegation, it looks like the EMPs are losing their focus on Albania. There are less EMPs who are going to Albania this December.

Kukan: There will be seven of us, and I think that it is a good number, but I understand some of them, because they are taking the experience of our previous visits, where we did not see the dialogue between the two political parties of Albania, but they were quarreling all the tie instead, and that is not very noble for the EMP to sit there and simply listen to it. This is the reason why it was necessary to encourage some EMPs to go there.

But I will return to your question in the beginning. For three times, during the previous meetings, we were not in a position to adopt a joint statement. There was no possibility to bring tow parties together. Now I hope that those positive signals are for real and sustainable. And this will be another opportunity to prove that things will change. We hope that after three unsuccessful attempts, there will be a joint statement. I think that this would send some positive signals from Tirana.

Top Channel: Otherwise?

Kukan: Otherwise we should hope only that those positive signals are real.

Prepared by: ARTA TOZAJ

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