Thewesternbalkans
Basic developments.
April 2009: The EU-Albania Stabilisation and Association Agreement enters into force. Albania submits its application for EU membership.
June 2014: The European Council grants Albania candidate status for EU membership.
May 2019: The European Commission recommends opening accession negotiations.
March 2020: The European Council decides to open accession negotiations with Albania.
July 2022: First intergovernmental Conference on accession negotiations (IGC) – the analytical examination of the acquis (“screening”) starts.
In its Report on the state of play of the accession process with Albania, issued on 8 of November 2023, the European Commission has pointed out following main conclusions:
Political criteria. The political scene continued to be marked by political polarisation, against the background of persistent deep divisions within the largest opposition party. Parliamentary oversight of the executive remained limited. Delays and politicisation of the appointments of the Ombudsperson and of the new Anti-Discrimination Commissioner weaken these independent institutions.
Under the coordination of the chief negotiator and the newly reformed EU negotiation structures, Albanian institutions have mobilised significant resources to engage actively in the screening process and to prepare for the next steps of the accession negotiations. While civil society is generally free, but the role of civil society, including in the EU accession negotiation process, needs to be strengthened.
Albania remains moderately prepared in the area of public administration. The new strategies on public administration reform and public financial management reform have yet to be prepared and adopted. Provisions on merit-based recruitment in the Civil Service Law are not consistently applied, especially at senior management level. Significant efforts were made on the digitalisation of public services. Increased attention is also required on digital security and protection of personal data, especially following the cyberattacks in 2022 and a number of data leaks.
Albania has a moderate level of preparation on the functioning of the judiciary. The implementation of the justice reform continued, resulting in good progress overall. The appointments to the Constitutional Court have been completed with all nine judges now in office, of whom eight with full nine-year mandate. The Specialised Structure against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) achieved further results, and a new Chief Special Prosecutor was elected in December 2022 after a sound process. The efficiency of the judicial system and access to justice continued to be affected by the long timescale of proceedings, increased workload and high backlog of cases, which remains particularly high in appeal and first instance courts. In June 2023, the Special Court of First Instance against Corruption and Organised Crime sentenced the former Head of the Constitutional Court to 6 months in prison for false declaration and concealment during the vetting process. Albania must ensure that criminal procedures are systematically initiated against judges and prosecutors whose vetting process revealed criminal elements.
Albania has some level of preparation in the fight against corruption. Despite some progress and continued efforts in fighting corruption, it remains an area of serious concern. National bodies have conducted investigations in a number of high-level cases, ordering several arrests and convictions in a number of high-level cases. Overall, corruption is prevalent in many areas of public and business life and preventive measures continue to have a limited impact, particularly in vulnerable sectors.
Albania has some level of preparation in the fight against organised crime, with a continued good level of cooperation with EU Members States and EU agencies. More efforts need to be made in the fight against illicit drugs, including through an increase in the capacities of the law enforcement authorities.
In general the track record on money-laundering and high-level corruption cases remains insufficient, and financial investigations need to be further developed.
On fundamental rights, efforts at implementation of the legal and policy framework need to be intensified. Progress was made on the use of alternatives to detention. There was some progress on the rights of persons with disabilities, as concerns biopsychosocial assessment. On the protection of national minorities, the adoption of the remaining implementing legislation did not advance.
Albania is in between some and moderate level of preparation in the area of freedom of expression. Limited progress was made. The intersection of business and political interests, the lack of transparency of sources of finance, the concentration of media ownership, intimidation and precarious working conditions continued to hamper media independence, pluralism, and the quality of journalism.
The legal framework on migration is largely aligned with the EU acquisbut needs updating in line with developments on the EU side. Albania has contributed to the management of the mixed migration flows towards the EU by cooperating to implement the EU Action Plan on the Western Balkans. It concluded a revised Frontex Status Agreement in September. No progress was made in referrals and access to asylum procedures and shortcomings in the return procedures remain.
On the economic criteria, Albania has between a moderately and good level of preparation on developing a functioning market economyand made some progress in addressing last year’s recommendations. The economy showed resilience and GDP growth remained strong in 2022, despite the economic fallout from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Albania is at level of preparation to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU and made some progress on structural reforms in the energy market, transport infrastructure, the digitalisation of the economy and education outcomes, though significant gaps with regional and European levels remain.
On public procurement, Albania is moderately prepared and has made some progress, in particular through an increased use of the most economically advantageous tender award criteria.
On statistics, Albania is moderately prepared, and made some progress in further aligning with standards of the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010) and in steps to strengthen the role of the Institute of Statistics.
Albania is moderately prepared in the area of financial control where some progress was made, in particular with the updates to the legal framework on internal control and internal audit and the implementation of the policy document on the strengthening of public internal financial control and continued to target internal audits on arrears.
Albania is moderately prepared in most areas of the internal market, namely free movement of goods, services and capital, financial services, and competition policy. The same applies to company law and intellectual property law. Some progress was made on intellectual property rights and on free movement of family members of EU citizens as well as on financial services. However, no progress was made on competition policy, where the State aid Commission still lacks operational independence.
Albania has achieved a moderate level of preparation in many areas linked to competitiveness and inclusive growth, namely taxation, enterprise and industrial policy, social policy and employment, education and culture and the customs union.
The country reached a moderate to good level of preparation in economic and monetary policy, as the governance and monetary policy of the Bank of Albania were appropriate and effective in dealing with the crisis caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; more efforts are required regarding its independence. With limited progress made on the customs union, more efforts are also required in pursuing the fight against smuggling, corruption, and imports of counterfeit products.
Albania has some level of preparation in the fields of science and research.
As regards the green agenda and sustainable connectivity. Albania has some level of preparation in the areas of transport, trans-European networks, environment, and climate change, and it has a moderate to good level on energy. Further efforts are needed on renewable energy and on energy efficiency.
Albania ratified its participation in the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and is active in it.
On the environment and climate, further efforts are needed on water and waste management, environmental law enforcement and nature protection.
Albania has some level of preparation in most areas linked to resources, agriculture andregional policy and cohesion, namely agriculture and rural development, veterinary and phytosanitary policy, and financial and budgetary provisions.
The most important conclusion of the EC is that Albania has a good level of preparation as regards external relations, foreign security and defence. On external relations, Albania made some progress, further aligning its legislation with the EU acquis on preventing trade in certain goods that could be used for capital punishment and torture. As regards the EU common foreign and security policy, Albania maintained full alignment with all relevant EU decisions and declarations during the reporting period. As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council since January 2022, Albania continues to be actively engaged in promoting and defending the rules-based international order as well as Women, Peace, and Security.
COMMENTS:
The European Commission‘s report objectively and without politicisation reflects the levels and main criteria for Albania’s accession to the EU. On 143 pages, the achievements and weaknesses in the country’s development are described in three main directions – political criteria, including the stability of institutions, economic criteria and the country’s readiness to withstand external competition. The Report is dominated by assessments of an average level of fulfillment of these criteria. However, a careful reading of the recommendations shows that Albania has a lot of work to do in areas such as the fight against corruption, the independence of the judicial system, and the fight against organized crime. To the extent that the Albanian economy is gradually being taken over by the EU member states, the recommendations in the field of economy are much less and much easier to implement.
FORECAST: If Albania continues to implement the EC’s recommendations at the same pace, taking into account its membership in NATO, it is quite possible to displace Serbia and join the EU together with Montenegro by 2030.
