EU candidate status recommended

The Recommendation:

“Based on this report, the Commission confirms its recommendation that the Council should give the candidate status to Albania”.

In 26 pages, the Commission has evaluated that during this time, the Albanian government has shown concrete and constant political will for the integration reforms, including the law for the civil service, which causes political tension in the country.

Civil Service

“Since October, the replacement of the personnel mainly due to discipline measures and for restructuring the public institutions, has caused a political tension. In these conditions, the government has frozen all new recruits until July, to allow the new law to become operational, by guaranteeing this way a healthy and transparent process of recruiting. The full respect and implementation of all court verdicts is key.”

Independent Institutions

“The Commission Values the Parliament’s measures for reinforcing the supervisory role on independent institutions, despite the opposing opinions for the appointing procedures of some independent institutions.

“It is essential for the legislation to be implemented fully, and for the professionalism of independent institutions to grow. The procedure of selecting the leaders and leading boards of these institutions with simple majority remains a concerning issue and a danger for their independence. Different from the legislation for the High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets, the new law would benefit from reviews made by international experts. The Albanian government has demanded a review for evaluating the performance, structure and capacity of independent institutions, so that they can reinforce their functionality and independence”.

Anti-corruption

As regards sensitive issues for which the EU Council tasked the Commission to make a report, the documents states that there is “a constant political will to fight corruption with determination”, but there are obstacles with the limited time of investigation, acceptance of evidence to court, while investigations are still in a more reactive nature.

“As regards the track record, the number of corruption cases referred by the Prosecution in the State Police increased with 16% during October 2013 and May 2014, compared to the same period of one year ago. The sentences in District Court have dropped with 8% in the same period, while sentences at the Court of Appeal increased with 81%. In general, the number of investigations and sentences remains low, especially regarding high-level corruption. A high number of investigations for corruption don’t have final sentences. This emphasizes the need to reinforce independence, efficiency and responsibility of the judiciary, and to reinforce the police and prosecution capacities”.

The High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets has improved its performance in the first three months of 2014. Three judges, one prosecutor, one ambassador and two inspectors have been reported at the Prosecution. The High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets must continue to focus on unexplained wealth and make a better risk evaluation, and make a proper verification of the personal data with the asset declarations, and also with the conflict of interest.

“In general, there has been constant political will to act with determination in preventing and fighting corruption. The structural reforms that have been presented show an all-inclusive approach, with the participation of a series of institutions. The wide ranged consults for the anti-corruption strategy show that the government aims to include a wide number of interested people. Agencies have started working to reinforce the pro-active investigations, the systematic danger analyzes, and for overcoming the obstacles in order to improve the investigation efficiency. To progress even further in the integration path, the European Union must focus on implementing the legislation regarding the asset declarations; must increase the pro-active investigations and take further measures for more efficient investigations”.

Organized crime

The fight against the organized crime summarizes the action done by the local authority about the drug and human traffic; economic crime and money laundering. In general, it is shown that the number of cases against drug traffic has increased during this period, and there is an increased number of the quantity of marijuana seized, 18.8 tons from 13.6, and that of cocaine, 14.5 kg vs 1.7 kg. As for heroine, the number has reduced at 25.6 kg from 44 kg.

“In general, there have been organization changes, and the key legislation in the areas of police organizing, training and control of firearms has been prepared for approval. The cooperation with the judiciary and the international police has been intensified with the implementation of the extraditing agreement. The national referring mechanism of human traffic was revived through increasing cooperation between the law-enforcing authorities. The investigations have given positive results in the fight against drug traffic. To progress with determination in their European Union integration path, Albania needs to develop a track record in the fight against organized crime by increasing the cooperation between agencies, and increase the rendiment for pro-active investigation and for a systematic usage of the financial investigations, to reinforce the regional and international cooperation, including Europol, and intensify the efforts for treating every form of organized crime”.

The justice system reform

According to the Commissioner, the deep justice reform is key for fighting corruption. The Commissioner values the efforts made in this area for increasing the responsibility and professionalism of judges.

In general, Albania has shown its commitment for the judiciary reform, by cooperating with the Commission of Venice to improve the independence, responsibility and professionalism of the system. There have been some efforts to reduce the cases that have been imported and for increasing the transparency of the judiciary. Measures have been taken for raising awareness among judges and prosecutors by approving a procedure that will regulate the removal of their immunity. A number of sanctions were taken for disciplinary procedures. To progress with the European Union integration, Albania needs to follow the judiciary reform through a constant cooperation with the Commission of Venice; by approving the basic additional dispositions for reinforcing the accountability and independence, based on the guide for the judiciary reform and on the right implementation of the approved measures”.

The European Commission values through this report the economic reforms that brought the increased revenues from custom taxes, and for increasing the investigations against the VAT evasion and the fraudulent schemes. The fiscal consolidation, much required from Brussels, will enable the payment of three-year-old debts and will encourage essential reforms in managing the public finances, the taxes, the energy and the pension system, according to the document distributed to the 28 European Union members today.

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