EU intervenes to stop failed political fight

TIRANA, Nov 9 – The European Commission officials in Tirana had to intervene with a statement to explain the Albania 2008 progress report and what the Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn meant when he said that Albania’s EU accession progress was “a half empty, half full glass.”
Head of the EC Delegation office in Albania, Helmuth Lohan reiterated the call that Albania’s 2009 parliamentary election will be key to the country’s progress towards the union.
The European Commission said the country continued to make progress in democracy and rule of law but it also criticized it for lacking dialogue between political parties and also the consolidation of the state institutions.
While Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha described the report as objective he also said that was a clear sign of the country’s progress under their governing.
That was immediately opposed by the opposition saying the report made it clear the failure of the government.
That seems to have obliged the EU ambassadors in Tirana, headed by the French one that has the EU presidency, to issue a statement to make it clear to Albanian politicians and common Albanians what the progress report said.
Their statement repeated that the future of the Western Balkans lied in the European Union and that commitment remained unchallenged. But they also repeated that progress on the European track depends on the fulfillment of the necessary conditions. Thus, every country will be judged on the basis of its own merits, and these conditions mean not only the adoption of EU-compatible legislation but also its implementation.
The EU Commission report confirmed Albania’s progress on its way towards the EU, the statement said, underlining that Albania is implementing smoothly the Interim Agreement.
“Based on cross-party consensus on the EU, key political reforms are progressing, including electoral reform.”
But it also pointed where more has to be done.
Major efforts are needed to establish an independent, efficient and merit-based civil service. One of Albania’s key challenges is to build and strengthen its administrative and enforcement capacity. For example removing trained and competent staff from their posts negatively affected the police and other administrative departments.
The justice system is described as functioning poorly due to shortcomings in independence, accountability, transparency and the lack of a comprehensive strategy on judicial reform.
Corruption is described as a particularly serious problem for Albania. Fighting corruption, especially in the judiciary but also elsewhere, remains a key European Partnership priority.
In the fight against organized crime only limited progress has been reported. It remains a serious problem in Albania. There is even a lack of capacity to engage in longer-term operations aimed at the higher echelons of organized crime.
In the fight against money laundering preparations are only at an early stage.
Much remains to be done in the fight against trafficking of human beings. Internal sex trafficking is also on the rise. Human resource allocation for the fight against illegal migration remains inadequate.
Another of Albania’s key challenges ahead will be the handling of the 2009 legislative elections, an issue of central importance for the development of the relations between the EU and Albania: they have to be free and fair.
“We encourage Albania to strengthen even further its reform efforts, in particular in the fields where only limited and small progress was found by the Commission’s Progress Report. We stand ready to continue to support Albania in this work. We believe that further steps in the pre-accession process are possible if and when an even more satisfactory track record of the SAA and IA implementation can be confirmed.”