The rapporteur of Albania for the European Parliament, Isabel Santos, has drafted a highly-critical resolution against the country, criticising plans for a cash-for-passports scheme, a lack of transparency in competition and public procurement, and little progress in fundamental freedoms.
The resolution drafted by Santos, a socialist like the ruling Socialist Party, is set to undergo parliamentary procedures in the coming weeks.
“[The European Parliament] expresses concern at the lack of progress in achieving institutional transparency, freedom of expression and freedom of the media and emphasises the role that political leaders have in creating an enabling environment for these freedoms,” the draft resolution says.
On the topic of the media, it also calls for “immediate measures” against political influence, the economic set-up of the press, and the intimidation of journalists.
In the latest Commission progress report, Albania was marked as making “no progress” in media freedom, with main concerns related to pressure on media workers, funding, and transparency.
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The draft resolution also “expresses concern” about aspects of the draft law on fiscal amnesty and the proposed passport scheme in exchange for investments and considers these aspects “incompatible with EU norms and visa policy”.
Plans to sell Albanian citizenship to wealthy third-country investors were first revealed by Exit in 2019. Despite opposition from the EU, the government has said it will plough ahead with the plan.
Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria all had similar schemes, with the latter two scrapping them over EU concerns. Only Malta remains, and it faces legal procedures in the EU courts.
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The resolution also touches on the topic of unresolved issues from the almost 50 years of totalitarian communist rule, which ended in 1991. State Security files remain closed despite demands from civil society and politicians from both sides.
Aside from the criticism, she noted progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime and in the area of judicial reform.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament’s draft resolution “calls for the need to complete declassifying communist-era files and making them available to researchers and the general public, to advance justice and reconciliation.”
But it was not all bad news in the resolution. It commended the government’s commitment to completing the justice reform and encouraged it to finish the vetting process and ensure universal justice through cross-cutting measures.
It also noted the ongoing process of preventing, proactively investigating and prosecuting corruption and organised crime cases but called for more progress in establishing an efficient and accountable public administration.
On the topic of people, drug, and weapons trafficking, it welcomed successful international investigations and operations to combat the phenomena. However, continued action is needed to “reduce unfounded asylum claims by Albanian nationals.”
As for human rights, the resolution welcomed steps taken to eliminate discrimination against minorities and commended constructive engagement in regional and cross-border cooperation initiatives, in particular, “tangible progress reached in the context of the Berlin Process and the EU-Western Balkan Summit in Tirana.”
Other merit points were the approach to energy transition and diversification, adherence to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and steps to create the Vjosa National Park.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
Source: euractiv.com
