EU progress report needs to better capture the larger picture of Albania’s conditions.
TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
TIRANA, Oct. 18 – The European Union’s latest progress report for Albania came out last week, noting some progress in what Albania needs to get done to move forward in its EU integration path.
The report makes some good points. While acknowledging the achieved consensus between the main two political forces, the it highlights the Parliament’s limited oversight role. It also makes an important and well placed comment on the constitutional yet non-consensual election of the president. It also focuses on the need for significant and sustainable results from the judicial reform, pinpointing many existing problems with efficiency, transparency, capacity and integrity of courts.
More importantly, read as part of the larger Enlargement Strategy, which gives more regional context, there is an understanding that in addition to legislative and administrative reforms, in many cases a change in judicial culture is needed towards an increased focus on delivering a service for citizens.
The report also properly identifies local government problems with inability to function properly given limited resources and political fights in these units which lead to inability to delver services and bad image.
It also correctly finds very limited capacities especially in human resources in the overall coordination of the integration efforts, and in chapters which rarely get media attention, the report finds a series of gaps in legislative and administrative capacities in Albania, which demonstrate lack of the ability to take over obligations of membership.
Despite these well-placed observations, looking deeper, we believe this latest report shows there is a need to change the EU approach in how these reports are written and make sure the spirit of the reports meets the changes on the ground.
For this newspaper, and the vast majority of this country that supports EU integration, making life in Albania better is making it more European. Moving forward in the EU path should reflect this.
Beyond the immediate topics, shouldn’t the report also focus on things like the education system and the environment — things that directly affect quality of life? For example, today more than ever, education in Albania is far from European standards, but the report is mute on that point.
We all also know that the rate of properly implementing laws in country is getting worse. We all see that the environment is degrading in Albania. Furthermore the report should be stronger in its wording when it comes to the impunity of those with money and public posts.
We all also know that much of the media in Albania no longer tells the truth, yet the report is largely silent on the subject — one of the very foundations of a democratic state.
But let’s stick to what the report does deal with.
Albania’s progress for membership in the European Union was reduced to simply the success in the adoption of several laws in parliament. Consensus between the government and the opposition has been noted, but that type of success was clearly not enough.
Yet, is it enough to have consensus when the state of democracy and the state of governance in the country is today worst than it has been in the past? What’s the point of the consensus when some of the legal achievements it provides – such as constitutional changes done a few years back – gave Albania a far worse constitution than the one it started with in 1998. What’s the point of consensus when the opposition is hardly doing its job to hold the government accountable to better serving its people.
Progress is not a cold checklist. The greater picture is more than the sum of its parts.
We realize the candidate status is still only the first step in a long road that goes uphill. The true path toward membership will only start with the opening of negotiations.
It will not be an easy stage considering that in the early stages of the integration process, Albania was able to collect the type of delays all other countries had been able to avoid.
Many Albanians believed that NATO membership in 2008 would change the way of doing politics in Albania, but that didn’t happen. Most things remained the same – which had a negative impact on the European integration process.
We all know that in Albania there is a problem with the functioning of democracy — starting from holding elections that are free and fair.
In a democratic system, problems are dealt with at the ballot box. It works thanks to the electoral process. Unfortunately, the last two elections, 2009 and in particular and the local ones in 2011, made the conflict even deeper.
The next elections will provide a real sense of the progress Albania makes toward the EU. Elections will be a test for the political class and its maturity – but also for Albania as a whole – and whether the elected leaders can be truly held accountable at the ballot box for things that truly mark Albania’s movement toward the EU – a better quality of life for Albanians, a better education system and cleaner environment – a place where rule of law always works and for all.
