The European Parliament published its annual draft report on Albania this Thursday, assessing progress and challenges in the areas of the rule of law, justice reform, and anti-corruption. The report acknowledges advancements made, but also highlights shortcomings that require immediate attention from the Albanian authorities.

1. Justice Reform and Vetting

The report notes that the implementation of justice reform, including the vetting of judges and prosecutors, has had a positive impact in increasing accountability and integrity within the judicial system. However, Members of the European Parliament stress that significant challenges remain:

• Judicial efficiency remains low.
• Courts face a heavy backlog of cases, leading to delays in decisions.
• Greater stability in jurisprudence is needed, as well as efforts to limit external influence over judicial decisions.

2. Strengthening Judicial Governance Bodies

The report calls for further strengthening of judicial governance bodies, emphasizing:

• Their independence and transparency.
• The professional capacity of their members.
• Sustainable investments in court infrastructure and digitalization processes, which could improve case management and citizens’ access to justice.

3. Fight Against Corruption

According to the report, corruption continues to pose a serious challenge for Albania. Although progress has been made in the legal and institutional framework, the European Parliament expresses concern over:

• The need to consolidate a solid track record of investigations and prosecutions, particularly in high-level corruption cases.
• The importance of addressing corruption at all levels of governance in order to increase public trust in institutions and ensure a predictable business environment.

4. Fight Against Organized Crime

The report underlines the importance of effectively combating organized crime, including:

• Money laundering networks.
• Drug trafficking and international criminal activities.

MEPs call for intensified cooperation with EU agencies such as Europol and Eurojust to enhance the effectiveness of investigations and prosecutions in these areas.

Overall, the European Parliament’s report views Albania as being at an intermediate stage of progress, recognizing advancements in justice reform and the anti-corruption framework, but underlining that major challenges remain, particularly in the effective implementation of the law, judicial efficiency, and the fight against corruption and organized crime.