TIRANA, March 31 – Monica Macovei, the Romanian European parliamentarian in charge of relations with Albania, published her latest report Tuesday, urging the Albanian political parties to join forces to “make life better for all people.”
She spoke about the recent meeting of the EU-Albania stabilization and association parliamentary committee held in Tirana, considering it “an excellent opportunity to encourage the Albanian delegation to continue with judicial reform, modernization of the public administration, and to spare no effort in the fight against crime and corruption.”
Albania was granted the EU’s candidate status last year and is now working to launch full membership negotiations.
Macovei said that the fact the joint statement was not the same as recommendations they had initially planned was not a failure “but it has been a lesson on how agreements should be reached,” adding that Albania’s interest and that of the Albanian people is beyond party or individual interests.
Macovei urged the political parties in the parliament to stop their internal fighting and promote dialogue.
“Albanians want EU accession because this will see an improvement in their lives, in the rule of law, human rights, jobs, and public health sector among others,” she said.
Keeping track of records of cases of corruption, fraud and other crimes is an important step, she said, adding prosecutors should be allowed to investigate allegations, regardless of the political party involved.
People in public positions with criminal records should resign as an example of taking responsibility, the report noted.
“Albania is on the right track but more progress is needed. Albanian authorities have the full support of the EU institutions in their path to accession, but they must prove that they have the capacity and the political will to make a breakthrough in the reform process,” she said.
A national anti-corruption portal, launched by the Albanian government in early February, showed that in one month 4,256 corruption cases had been recorded, 905 of them in the country’s education system.
The national anti-corruption portal was launched last month to enable citizens to report cases of corruption via the online program, e-mail and telephone with the aim of tackling corruption in the country.
EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said during his visit to Tirana last week the EU and Albania had gone over Tirana’s plans to meet the criteria for the opening of accession negotiations.
“Success will depend on Albania’s resolve to continue with reforms in an inclusive way and make them irreversible,” Hahn said
