EU discusses Albania’s progress with civic organizations

TIRANA, March 23 – Following up on its dialogue with civil society, the Delegation of the European Union to Albania held Wednesday a meeting with civil society organizations to discuss Albania’s progress since November 2010, and receive input for the 2011 Progress Report on Albania’s application for membership of the European Union. The focus of the meeting was human rights, especially rights of women, children and the Roma community.
The 2010 Opinion of the European Commission on Albania’s membership application highlighted 12 areas that Albania needs to address with primacy in order to be considered for candidate status. 12 key recommendations were made, one of which is to “take concrete steps to reinforce the protection of human rights, notably for women, children and Roma, and to effectively implement anti-discrimination policies”.
Considering civil society organizations as important promoters of Albania’s integration and development agenda, an important source of information on progress in human rights issues and other areas, the Delegation of the EU to Tirana invited them today to present on the situation of women, children and Roma, and receive their recommendations for future action. Civil society organizations are also strongly encouraged to submit their written contributions with specific recommendations to the Delegation of the European Union by 15 April 2011.
Head of the EU Delegation to Tirana, Ambassador Ettore Sequi highlighted the importance of dialogue with civil society as instrumental to local ownership of Albania development, noting that “The opinions and information shared by civil society organizations have been crucial for the European Union to have a better understanding of the political, economic and social situation in Albania. Your voice based on your experience on the ground is indispensable to assess Albania’s progress and to orient its future agenda of priorities and actions”.
The EU will be allocating 1.2 million for civic action for human rights through the EIDHR call, and another 1.65 million from the IPA Civil Society Facility.