“Strong reforms will not stop”

Bushati declared that the government will give concrete examples for corruption and power abuse cases. For Bushati, it is not about arresting two or three officials, but returning trust on justice.
 

Top Channel: If there will be no positive opinion from the EU Council on December 17th, what would be the impact for the country’s reforms?

Ditmir Bushati, Foreign Minister:  Albania needs to implement strong reforms in the state-building area, because this process requires them and certainly that the candidate status would be a clear encouraging signal for Albania to continue the reform path. On the other hand, we should not interrupt the reforms in December. Albania will keep doing them, because they are important for Albania and the Albanian people, and secondly, because they help with the European integration.

Top Channel: Keeping in mind the videos from “Fiks Fare” for corruption in the judiciary, do you think that there will be arrests in Albania, will the country go towards the “sanader” example?

Ditmir Bushati: We have an ambitious agenda as regards reforms in the rule of law. The example of Sanader was one of my favourite topics when we were in opposition, and we will give concrete examples of our different approach to corruption and power abuse cases in all three executive, local and judiciary powers.  It is important that we recognize it as a phenomenon. We don’t hide the fact that justice is facing its worst days. We are working with the European Commission and the Commission of Venice to undertake a complete and solid reform, so that we can have a different situation in the judiciary, when we sit with the EU for Chapter 23 and 24, but most importantly, we need to have a higher trust on the judiciary by our citizens. It’s not about just arresting one or two officials, but returning the public’s trust on justice.

Prepared by: Arta Tozaj

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