Skip to main content

Deja Vu?

Another day, another report again. This time it is the European Commission's much leaked Enlargement Strategy and Progress Reports 2006. As usual with the EU it's a lengthy piece of work, but the key sections for Albania can be found in two places.

The Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006-2007 contains, among much else, the conclusions regarding candidate countries. Those concerning Albania can be found on pp 22-26.

The Progress Report on Albania on which the conclusions are based runs to 47 pages and covers political and economic matters and Albania's capacity to meet a range of European standards.

In an accompanying press release the Commission presents its key findings for each country. These are the key finding for Albania:

ALBANIA

Albania signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on 12 June 2006. Signing this agreement represented an important step forward on Albania's EU path. Albania now faces the challenge of successfully implementing its SAA, starting with the trade-related provisions contained in the interim agreement, which enters into force on 1 December 2006.

Political criteria

Albania has made progress in several key areas. It has shown determination in fighting corruption. It has adopted a plan to fulfil European Partnership and SAA obligations and set up new structures to implement it. Albania has continued to contribute to stability in the region.

However, further progress is needed on co-operation between government and opposition to enable key reforms. Administrative capacity needs to be rebuilt following major staff changes and ministerial restructuring. Albania needs to make additional progress on political and judicial reform and human rights, as well as the fight against corruption and organised crime. The legal framework for media freedom needs to be improved and properly implemented.

Economic criteria

Albania has made progress towards being a functioning market economy. It has maintained macroeconomic stability, strong economic growth and low inflation. Fiscal consolidation has further advanced. Administrative barriers to market entry have been reduced.

Further reform is needed to enable Albania to cope with competitive pressures. External imbalances widened and exports remained very weak. Albania needs to address shortcomings in the business climate, especially poor infrastructure, to encourage economic development. Substantial work is needed to formalise the large grey economy.

European standards

Albania has made some progress on putting in place the structures and laws needed to meet European standards. Progress has been made in the fields of fighting organised crime and improving the administration of customs, competition, standardisation and statistics.

Pushing forward reform in areas such as public procurement, intellectual property, information society and media, SME policy, agriculture, fisheries and veterinary and phytosanitary control will now be important for successful SAA implementation.

Pre-accession assistance

The EU continues to provide technical and financial assistance. For 2006, €45.5 million pre-accession assistance is available for Albania.

Happy reading.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Albania and the Perils of the 21st Century

Another article on religion in Albania appeared yesterday. Patrick Poole, writing in the American Thinker , argues that Saudi funding for the construction of mosques and the training of imams is a threat to Albania, since these mosques and imams reflect the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.
34 comments
Read more

Kamëz Part 3

For those who want a lengthy detailed report into the election there will, undoubtedly, be a range of them to chose from. In the meantime, here are my brief reflections on the last few weeks. At the heart of the problems around this election is the unwarranted influence of political parties on all aspects of the electoral process. Every institution responsible for organising and facilitating the election is under the control of political parties. The Electoral Code itself was heavily revised only days before the original date for the elections and only weeks before the actual date (Law 9676 13 January 2007). It was these revisions, specifically Article 181/2, that created the overly complicated identification requirements that caused so much confusion, and undoubtedly disenfranchised some voters. Let's be clear though: these revisions were not designed to protect the interests of the electorate. They were drafted primarily because the political parties do not trust each other. The ...
27 comments
Read more

Big in Albania

Ask me how much I knew about Albania before coming here and my list would be a short one: Enver Hoxha, bunkers and Sir Norman Wisdom. I have no idea when or how I acquired this extensive body of knowledge, but the association of Norman Wisdom with Albania was by far the most interesting part of it. I remember watching Norman Wisdom's old films on British television. My parents were fans of his wholesome, slapstick comedy, but apparently missed the ideological significance of Pitkin's relationship with Mr Grimsdale. Pitkin, the downtrodden and oppressed representative of the workers, triumphed every time over his capitalist oppressor, Mr Grimsdale - and he got the girl. It took a theorist of Hoxha's insight and profundity to discern this deeper political message. It always seemed tremendously unlikely, yet the story of Sir Norman's fame in Albania has been reported in worthy sources like the BBC , the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph . According to the Guardian, when Wi...
22 comments
Read more