Europe reminds Albania of its duties

TIRANA, Feb. 15 – While Albania is covered with heavy snow and a cold snap, European officials remind it to continue to perform other duties as it is asking to become a member of the bloc.
European officials and ambassadors refer in every meeting to the main fields of work for the tiny western Balkan country.
Albania has requested EU candidate status and it is the bloc’s annual progress report that sets the issues it should comply with or fulfill.
At a roundtable hosted by Transparency International, funded by the British Council and the World Bank, the UK Ambassador Fiona McWhillam stressed that progress in tackling corruption was not only vital for Albania’s EU progress, but also for strengthening democracy. She noted that the misuse of publicly entrusted power – public funds or position– for private gain, distorts democratic systems.
The Ambassador stated that the focus now was on “implementation of the government’s anti-corruption strategy and action to remove obstacles to investigationsŠincluding limiting the immunity of judges, MPs and officials.”
Albania adopted an anti-corruption strategy four years ago.
According to the corruption index published by Transparency International on December 1st 2011, Albanians perceive corruption as widespread, reaching the highest echelons of officialdom.
The index puts Albania in 95th place out of 183 countries in the report. This year’s ranking is eight places behind its position in the index in 2010.
Head of the EU Delegation to Albania, Ambassador Ettore Sequi said that “meeting Albania’s challenges towards the EU – its political, economic and social development – relies on the capacities of people here, of Albanians”.
To protect fair competition, honest business and creativity, the EU has taken action to protect intellectual property rights through legislation and enforcement mechanisms. The same is expected of countries aspiring for membership, like Albania. The Stabilization and Association Agreement, the contract between the EU and Albania, specifies copyright protection as a requirement for Albania to make progress towards membership.
Sequi emphasized the need to step up efforts to improve legislation and enforcement mechanisms, pointing specifically to the clarification of the inspectorates that are mandated with carrying out inspections on copyrights.