TIRANA, Sept. 17 – Two European parliamentarians, Knut Fleckenstein and Eduard Kukan, who belong to both sides of the main European Parliament political groupings, have harshly criticized Albania for not putting in action a decriminalization plan agreed on last December.
They commended positively on the arrest of an Albanian lawmaker and the resignation of another — both from the leftist ruling coalition — but said that more must be done and no one with criminal ties can be in politics.
The decriminalization of politics is fundamental for the country’s further progress in the integration process, they added in a statement.
The call comes ahead of a much-awaited EU annual progress report that is to come out next month.
Experts say there is little chance at this point that Albania will receive a positive endorsement to take the next step in the EU integration process.
Albania’s government had earlier said it was expecting a positive recommendation by the EU’s executive arm to open membership negotiations after it conducts a reform in the judicial system in the months to come. Decriminalization appears to have now been added to the to-do list.
The OSCE/ODIHR mission report on the June municipal elections also repeated that the amendments and changes of the electoral law that the international community had requested were not referred to in the electoral process.
The European Union also expects an ad-hoc committee created in the country to deal with the electoral issues ahead of the general elections in 2017, according to officials.
