Help us to help you, says Europe

TIRANA, Nov 9 – These are the words that visiting Deputy Director General of the Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security of the European Commission, Jean Louis De Brouwer told Albania’s top officials.
That is: you make the required reforms to proceed in your request for visa liberalization and European Union membership. If you need help for your duty, your reforms, Brussels is ready.
Albania is expecting to get the visa liberalization next year and also get the candidate status probably this month.
De Brouwer said that the timing of the Commission proposal on visa liberalization depends on Albania’s speed of meeting benchmarks.
Earlier this week he met with Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ilir Meta, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Gazmend Turdiu, Interior Minister Lulzim Basha and Justice Minister Bujar Nishani.
De Brouwer called on the Albanian authorities to proceed with the implementation of the outstanding issues without further delay, to ensure that necessary progress is reported to the European Commission by mid-November. He underlined that the timing of a possible Commission proposal on visa liberalization for Albanian citizens will depend on Albania’s speed of meeting the remaining requirements of the roadmap. Good progress requires strong political will. As soon as the Commission considers that Albania has fulfilled the outstanding benchmarks, it will promptly take action and present a proposal for visa liberalization for Albanian citizens.
De Brouwer provided preliminary reactions to the progress made by Albania since the last assessment of the European Commission in June 2009. He welcomed the continued efforts made by Albania to meet the remaining requirements of the visa roadmap, including the adoption of action plans required by the visa roadmap. Determined implementation needs to follow and efforts need to be intensified to make progress on outstanding issues. The continued issuance of biometric passports since May 2009 was also noted as a very positive step.
Other important outstanding requirements, to be tackled as soon as possible, are the adoption and implementation of the strategy and action plan on fighting financial crime, the new draft law reviewing the 2004 law on the confiscation of criminal assets and the new draft law on international mutual legal assistance. Strengthening capacities in the area of border and migration management is also crucial.
In order to effectively fight organized crime and trafficking, cooperation between law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and the prosecution needs to be enhanced. In this regard, it is important that direct access to the MEMEX criminal intelligence information system is ensured in all regional police units and other law enforcement authorities. The improvement of investigative capacity of the police and prosecution is also crucial.
Meta said that the government was making the utmost to fulfill all the roadmap requirements and was convinced they would achieve the good results of visa liberalization, “the fall of the second Berlin wall” next year.
Basha, on his side, said that 252,000 applications for the biometric passports were a clear indication of the undertaken steps. He said that soon Albania would have a joint system of border management linked to Europe. Fighting organized crime with zero tolerance remained the top priority of the country’s police and law enforcement institutions.