EU urges discussions on country’s problems

TIRANA, Dec. 13 – An EU-German funded project of 2 million euros sponsored a conference to discuss the European Commission Analytical Report and the way ahead.
The European Integration – Realities and Perspectives in the Light of the Analytical Report of the European Commission Conference had as main theme “Support to the Albanian Ministry of European Integration.”
Participants at the conference, included the government authorities, the Parliamentary Committee on Integration, civil society and international organizations, discussed the findings of the analytical report and the way ahead in terms of national planning for the implementation of the SAA and legal approximation, capacity building for public administration to meet remaining challenges, and preparatory work for accession negotiations.
The conference follows the publication on Nov. 9, 2010 of the opinion of the European Commission on the application of Albania for EU membership which assesses that Albania has made good progress overall but important reforms remain to be undertaken. An analytical report providing an analysis of the current state of affairs and clear indications on standards to be fulfilled before Albania is ready to start accession negotiations accompanies the commission’s opinion.
The EU has long assisted Albania in preparing and setting the right conditions for accession to the European Union. The ongoing project builds on the improvements achieved progressively in the past and supports the Ministry of European Integration in a more direct form with objectives and activities that are tailor-made to Albania’s present specific needs.
Project activities over the past 14 months include support for the preparation of answering the EU questionnaire; the establishment and consolidation of inter-institutional coordination structures tasked with EU integration; training of 522 members of inter-institutional working groups; introduction of a new format for legislation gap analysis and tables of concordance to assess compatibility of existing Albanian legislation with the EU acquis; procurement of a professional program for computer aided translation; publication of glossaries on the SAA and EU institutions; strategic advice on the long-term preparation of EU accession negotiations; development of a plan for EU related training of public administration; and development of targeted communication activities on the European integration process of Albania.
During the Conference, Charg頠d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to Tirana Luigi Brusa emphasized the cross-cutting nature of the EU integration agenda, noting that “EU integration is not only the daily business of the Ministry of European Integration, but the business of the entire public administration”. He pointed out that experience from other accession countries has shown development of institutional capacities and the human factor to be the decisive factors for progress, and underlined that “EU integration becomes an impossible project without public administration reform that assures professional, stable and accountable civil servants”.
The ongoing project will continue to support the capacities of the Ministry of European Integration until 2011.