EC publishes Progress Report. Justice and decriminalization, Albania’s challenges

The responsible Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, presented the main recommendations of the European Parliament Enlargement Package. Hahn respected the tradition of his predecessor, Stefan Fule, who aimed to receive support from the EU legislation, in order to influence the member countries.

“I greet the stable progress in Albania with the key priorities for the accession negotiations, and for the reforms needed to advance with the EU integration. However, more should be done with the rule of law, especially for the justice reform, the gradual consolidation of record track in the fight against corruption and organized crime. A more systematic approach is needed for protecting the basic rights with properties. A legislation should be approved for returning and compensating properties that were taken by the communist regime”, declared the Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn.

For the first time this year, Albanian MPs and the Integration Minsiter were present in the room, since they are already in Brussels for the ninth committee of Stabilization Association with the European Parliament.

Different from the past years, the European Parliament Members expressed their discontent with the delays, a document they now had to discuss without knowing its content. Most of them showed interest on Turkey only, except for the Balkan Rapporteurs.

“The delay of the reports sent wrong signals, that’s why it is not enough to discuss only for one hour and a half on it. For Albania, the justice reform should be the main priority in the next six months. They require constitutional amends that need to be implemented. On the other hand, together with the colleague from the European People’s Parties, Eduard Kukan, we visited Albanai and reached an agreement for the so-called ‘decriminalization’ issue. A law should pass on this issue within the year”, said Knut Fleckenstein, Rapporteur for Albania at the European Parliament.

Commissioner Hahn said that the position of the aspiring countries will be more clear this year regarding the fulfillment of the remaining conditions.

“We will keep our focus on the rule of law, fight against organized crime and corruption”, he said, adding that the freedom of speech and of minorities will also be a priority.

The rule of law and economic development are two sides of the same medal, and all countries of the region should do more on this direction, according to Commissioner Hahn.

For Kosovo, the agreements reached with Belgrade received positive evaluation, together with the signing of the Stabilization Association Agreement, the decision for the Special Court, while they criticized the justice system and the public administration, in which were noted political interventions and lack of accountability. They requested concrete evidence for the fight against high-level corruption.

The Commissioner said that Serbia will open the first chapters in the negotiations process within this year, but the country needs to keep up the dialogue for normalizing the relations with Kosovo.

Montenegro has marked the biggest progress in this process, with eight out of 35 chapters being opened. But the success is limited as regards the fight against crime and corruption.

The agreement reached in Macedonia within the political actors received positive evaluations. But problems were verified for its implementation. The Commissioner mentioned that many countries of the region are facing the refugee crisis, a crisis that has changed the dynamics of the EU relations with Turkey.

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