The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs approved today the report on the progress of Albania’s membership to the EU. The report states that it supports the convening of the first intergovernmental conference, and the start of the accession negotiations without further delay, “following the complete fulfilment of conditions set by the European Council”. For that reason, the focus was on the 15 conditions that should be met in order to proceed with the accession talks. The report expressed concern with the allegations of vote-buying, reminding that “its prosecution is among conditions set by the Council on 25 March 2020.” The report continued by stressing the importance of ensuring that preparations for the 2021 parliamentary elections “take place in a transparent and inclusive manner,” noting that all political forces, state bodies, civil society and the media “have a joint duty to ensure a transparent, credible and objective election campaign, free from disinformation, intimidation and false accusations.”
While the report welcomed the 5 June 2020 agreement, which saw the implementation of some of the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations, it noted “the failure to build upon it and the fact that despite of repeated international appeals to await for the opinion of the Venice Commission, further steps have been taken without a wide crossparty consensus, resulting in the adoption of the disputed amendments to the Electoral Code in October 2020 by the Albanian Parliament.”
Another problem remains also the ‘extensive’ money laundering problems, “notably in the construction and real estate sector.” Also, the report welcomed the commitment from the Albanian authorities to withdraw the proposed draft amendments to the Media Law, and encouraged “full implementation of the Venice Commission’s recommendations of 19 June 2020 on all future proposals.”
