Albania – annual report 2020

Details: Published: September 8, 2021

Dr Jutta Kemper (left, centre) welcomes the Albanian delegation led by the Deputy Minister of Interior Besfort Lamallari (opposite) during the study trip on “Recovery of Assets” at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection

Strategic Framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

The European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Albania in March 2020. At the same time, Albania was urged to initiate further approximation measures prior to the first intergovernmental conference that marks the formal beginning of the accession negotiations. Measures included implementation of electoral law reform in line with the recommendations of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the human rights institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In response to this, the parties in parliament reached an overarching agreement on a reform of electoral law in the middle of the year, facilitated by the EU, the US and the UK. Further changes to the election system followed shortly afterwards, which also required an amendment to the constitution. The parliamentary vote did not wait for agreement in the so-called Political Council, an all-party body that is supposed to agree on changes in electoral law. This procedure was criticised by the EU.

Other preconditions for the start of accession negotiations concern the implementation of the judicial reform, in particular restoring the operability of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, which have not had a quorum for years. This is due to the vetting procedure that vets all Albanian judges and the Public Prosecutors concerning their assets, their background and integrity as well as concerning their professional qualifications.

Numerous positions in the judiciary remain vacant as a result. On a positive note, however, enough judges were appointed to the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court over the course of the year to enable one chamber in each body to resume work. But the process of filling vacancies was not without problems, especially at the Constitutional Court.

In addition, Albania has created specialised structures to combat corruption and organised crime by establishing the new agency SPAK (Struktura e Posaçme Anti-Korrupsion/Special Anti-Corruption Structure).

Overall Concept

The COVID-19 pandemic initially had a significant impact on collaboration with Albanian partner institutions. But the process of switching cooperation to digital formats proceeded quickly. In this context, IRZ provided advice in bilateral projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection and the Federal Foreign Office, as well as within the framework of the EU-funded EURALIUS V project. Emphasis is placed on preventing duplicate work in the overall concept and organisation of the projects.

Cooperation with the School of Magistrates, which plays a key role in basic and further training of young legal professionals, is particularly significant for IRZ. Albanian legal professionals received further training, and IRZ and the School of Magistrates jointly developed an e-commentary. The constitutional complaint, which was introduced in Albania in 2016 based on the German model, is a thematic focus of cooperation with the Albanian National Chamber of Advocacy.

During the reporting year, IRZ also provided technical expertise with regard to the provisions of European law as a means of supporting the new authority SPAK and other relevant parties. Encouragingly, cooperation with the Supreme Court resumed after years of standstill.

Focus of Activity in 2020

Constitutional Law, Human Rights and their Enforceability

Online further training on “Use of the constitutional complaint” for the lawyers in the regions of Vlora, Elbasan and Shkodra in cooperation with the Albanian Bar Association

Civil and Commercial Law

Online seminar on inheritance law, together with the Federal Chamber of Notaries and the National Chamber of Notaries of Albania
Online seminar on the specifics of civil proceedings before the Supreme Court in cooperation with the Supreme Court

Public Law

Online seminar on the delineation between civil and administrative court jurisdiction in cooperation with the School of Magistrates
Online seminar on the Administrative Procedure Code together with the School of Magistrates

Criminal and Penitentiary Law

Study trip to Berlin on the topic of “Asset recovery” in cooperation with the Albanian Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Public Prosecutor’s Office as well as the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets
Online roundtable discussions on the topic of “Asset recovery” in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Public Prosecutor’s Office as well as the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets
Preparation of a manual on asset recovery

Basic and Further Training

Establishment of an e-commentary in cooperation with the School of Magistrates and EURALIUS V
Online seminar “The legal lawyers in public” together with the Albanian Bar Association

Project funded by the European Union

EU Grant Project: EURALIUS V “Consolidation of the Justice System in Albania”

Since April 2018, IRZ has been in charge of implementing the EU-funded EURALIUS V project as lead contractor (volume: € 7.5 million, term: 36 months until March 2021, in case of an approval of a non-cost time extension the project will be extended up to December 2021). Including over 30 experts and more than ten institutions, the consortium partners in the project are: Centre for International Legal Cooperation (CILC/Netherlands), Agency for Economic Development (aed/Austria) and Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura (CSM/Italy).

Despite the considerable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EURALIUS V project was able to continue its work without interruption, thanks to the immense commitment shown by the entire team.

EURALIUS V concentrates on overall consolidation of the legal framework of the judicial reform developed in the predecessor project EURALIUS IV, with the priorities:

Development of a transition strategy to compensate for the personnel effects of ongoing vetting procedures and support in implementing the transition strategy
Capacity building measures for the newly established self-governing institutions within the judiciary
Strategies for effective reduction in the case backlog at the Supreme Court
Support for the Special Public Prosecutor’s Offices and the anti-corruption courts and
Concurrent IT measures for the entire judicial sector

Of particular note is the development of a “Transition Matrix”, which provides transition strategies for continued effective organisation of the work of the courts and Public Prosecutor’s Offices until they are back to full staffing levels. This is of great importance given the reduced number of judges and public prosecutors due to the ongoing vetting procedure. The final phase of the project concentrates on assuring the sustainability of implemented measures and on knowledge transfer to the Albanian institutions.

Outlook

Albania will remain an important partner to IRZ in 2021, especially with regard to the accession negotiations and the associated reforms that are necessary. Therefore it is planned to broaden cooperation with the Supreme Court in 2021, in addition to continuing the EURALIUS V project, which may be extended until the end of 2021. Moreover, activities in the area of the asset recovery will be further intensified and cooperation with the School of Magistrates to provide basic and further training to legal professionals will continue. Additional topics will also be added to widen cooperation with the National Chamber of Albanian Bar Association.

The same applies to the work with the National Chamber of Notaries of Albania.