Albania successfully completed the GRECO evaluation for its intensive efforts in preventing corruption in central government and security forces. This news was shared today at the Joint Inter-Institutional Conference “From Commitment to Results: Progress in Preventing Corruption,” co-organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption, with the participation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, Minister of Internal Affairs Ervin Hoxha, Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption Adea Pirdeni, as well as international representatives.
“This Wednesday, GRECO’s plenary session approved the report on Albania, the progress evaluation report in the field of preventing corruption in central government institutions and law enforcement agencies, a result that the GRECO President praised as excellent for Albania,” said Minister Pirdeni, while informing that “Out of 24 recommendations assigned to Albania, 18 are now considered fully implemented, 5 are partially implemented, and only 1 remains to be completed. According to GRECO’s rules, if over 66% of the recommendations are fulfilled, the round is considered completed because the state has established solid systems for preventing corruption in these areas. Albania has now fully implemented over 75% of these recommendations, and we are excited to share these figures with you today,” she stated.
The fulfillment of the Council of Europe’s recommendations is the factual result of all efforts to strengthen every integrity link in the State Police, the largest law enforcement agency in the country.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Professor Ricardo Hausmann once said a phrase that I constantly remember even today. Adea brought it up, and later our esteemed friend, Mr. Esposito, reiterated it: governments are usually measured by what they do, but their main merit lies in what they do not allow to happen. And what the government does not allow to happen is something that can only be valued by going deeper and ruling precisely over the foundations in all areas.
Today, I am very pleased that we are here for another meaningful and encouraging report on the progress we have made. In a way, this is another fortress we are capturing, considering that when we started this journey, reports from all sides were extremely problematic. This report comes after the SIGMA report a short time ago, which really gave me a lot of positive energy and gave us many reasons to feel even more motivated by ranking Albania first in the region for public procurement integrity with a significant difference from the second place, first in the region for financing, for managing public finances with a difference from the second place, and first in the region for human resources management with a difference from the second place.
On the other hand, before the SIGMA report was made public, another very meaningful report gave us energy and provided a great encouragement. The Bertelsmann Transformation Index, one of the most respected and prestigious indices globally, explicitly states: “From being the most corrupt country in Europe in 2012, Albania today ranks as one of the 8 countries with the most substantial progress of the last decade.” According to this very Index, Albania has performed better in all indicators compared to all previous measurements, and particularly important, the report writes: “is the rapid improvement in the quality of governance,” ranking Albania among the top three countries with the greatest improvement in governance.
Transparency International also came recently for 2024, with a more meaningful reflection on all the progress made, where Albania rose 18 places in the global ranking. On the other hand, the Western Balkans Competitiveness Outlook for 2024, the OECD report, considers Albania a regional leader in anti-corruption policies, with the highest result among the economies of the Western Balkans in terms of anti-corruption measures, surpassing the region significantly, the report states. I am just reading: “in the areas of corruption prevention as well as in the field of criminal investigations and prosecutions.” And efforts to fight and prevent corruption “have been strengthened, according to the report, thanks to a comprehensive legal and institutional framework.”
This is a collection of facts that explain to anyone who wants to understand why Albania today is at the forefront of the integration process of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union. Why Albania today has the capacity to conclude the negotiation process by 2027 and why Albania today has every reason to feel fully motivated to become a member of the European Union within this decade. And since we are on the subject, I want to emphasize that very soon we will continue with the opening of other chapters, contrary to what has been said in the recent media and political swamp.
Now, I don’t want to add more or take up more time regarding what was said here by Adea, the minister, or Mr. Esposito. I just want to say that for us, this is absolutely not a moment to sit back and contemplate the panorama of achievements, but on the contrary, all of these are strong motivations to be much more ambitious and go much further. We are making comprehensive efforts to deepen this progress by preparing for another wave of reforms in good governance, the rule of law, and anti-corruption, with the broad involvement of all institutions and the interaction of the three independent powers: the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial Powers. As a government, we will continue to do significant work, even greater in fact, to make this progress available and to achieve our great goal of joining the European Union, along with technological developments.
We are preparing a unique model for Public Procurement with Artificial Intelligence that, to date, is at least the first model that will cover 95% of the process without human involvement. A few weeks ago, we held a workshop with 16 representatives from research and technology groups from 16 European countries who are working on the development of the Public Procurement model with Artificial Intelligence, and it was very encouraging that workshop, but also meaningful for us, as all other countries have fragments and parts, but we are trying and doing this in cooperation with Mira Murati and her team, as well as with Microsoft, to have a comprehensive model for the entire process.
Also, as Adea mentioned, we are aware that the Cadastre needs to be much more effective in providing services to citizens, despite the great progress made compared to where we started. Meanwhile, as we move forward with the full digitalization of the Cadastre, thanks to the support we have received from the European Commission, we are also working to integrate Artificial Intelligence into the processes of the Cadastre.
In the justice system, we are still in the stone age. We conduct interviews in the prosecutor’s office, and even in the police, in fact, without audio or video. The interviews in the prosecutor’s office, from the general jurisdiction prosecutor’s offices to the special prosecutor’s office, are done as in the stone age. This has been highlighted by international institutions, and it is one of the things that needs to be urgently corrected, and we will definitely correct it, continuing to strongly support the justice system, continuing to strongly support the SPAK, the Special Court, and all other new institutions created by the justice reform. We hope that, in the end, the digital management system for all issues related to the judiciary will become a reality. This is a project that has already faced an unreasonable delay, but I hope that, finally, it will be put into action, and I hope that the High Judicial Council will no longer delay it but will move it forward. As a government, we have committed funds and are fully supportive of realizing this program.
All of these will be incredibly effective in what Mr. Esposito rightly emphasized, which is prevention, the creation of a well-integrated state system, where, in parallel with the fight against corruption, freedom is guaranteed, human rights are guaranteed, and the public’s right to full transparency in the internal processes of the state is guaranteed, free competition is guaranteed, and all those things that make a democratic state a functional democracy, worthy of the united European family.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the person without whom we wouldn’t have come here today, which is our Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption. I want to thank the whole team that has worked intensively to provide the government with European market products, fresh policies from Brussels and Strasbourg. I would also like to thank, without a doubt, the Council of Europe and Mr. Esposito himself for his willingness and for coming here today. I want to thank our Minister of State and Chief Negotiator who oversees us like a dedicated agent of the European Union. We feel pursued 24 hours a day to carry out our tasks in order to be included in that family as soon as possible and finally close this difficult marriage. I also want to thank all those present here.
Ah, and the General Director of the State Police, whom I see proudly aligned side by side with the entire diplomatic corps and other representatives of the diplomatic body. Today, we have a State Police that, not only by chance but also symbolically, can be aligned side by side with all the police forces of European countries.
Last but not least, the Minister of the Interior, who has made a special contribution to advancing a reform that continues in the State Police and, on the other hand, never forgets, as he did today, to highlight the steps taken to get to this point. It is a journey that continues, and all of us together, with the generous help of everyone involved in this process, will succeed in finally placing Albania in line with European families. And since our name in foreign languages starts with A, Albania, when we go, we will be the first there. Even our flag will be the first to enter without waiting in line because we “either are the first or there is no other way.”
Thank you.
