Good morning everyone,

First of all I would like to thank “Fredrich Ebert Foundation” for organizing this forum. I would also like to thank once again Knut who has done a fantastic job as a rapporteur of Albania, together with the other shadow rapporteur as it is called, from the European People’s Party Groups, Eduard Kukan, showing the special attention to Albania by the two main groups in the European Parliament. I want to initially echo what he said with regard to the European Union’s decision and the need for Albania to deepen the course of our reforms, including the whole political spectrum in Albania, but also to continue the process of social transformation as it is very important.

Starting from the precedent that the EU has established with Montenegro and Serbia, two countries ahead of us in this process, the EU decision would undoubtedly be through intermediate steps, even in any circumstances with the most optimistic analysis we could made. There is no doubt that we would have liked this precedent not to have been set in the case of Montenegro and Serbia, but for the first time the EU started the screening or the analytical process before officially starting accession negotiations.

The same thing is happening in our case. In July, we will be able to begin the process of analytical work, starting with chapters 23 and 24 that are chapters related to freedom, justice, security, and human rights and I believe that one year will be enough for us and our neighbour to start the preparatory work in order for the accession negotiation process to officially begin. I very much hope that during this year, the EU will go through the reform process as well, as Knut himself said, because there have been some views related to the progress of this process. Member states themselves have talked about this process, so I would not like to comment on them any further.

Lutfi Dervishi: The list of homework looks more obvious now. The general conclusions and what is expected this year do not look very easy. We must bear in mind the actual staff for the vetting and the electoral law in order to say that in June 2019 this work is done and we did our duties.

Minister Bushati: First, allow me to be as precise as possible in relation to the conclusions of the Council of the European Union because the conclusions of the Council of the EU simply reflect the evolution of the criteria fulfilment in this process.

The 12 priorities or criteria were set for the first time at the moment Albania applied to join the European Union. Thus, the EU had never provided the vetting process, neither the establishment of the SPAC, nor the National Investigation Bureau. All these issues have been part of our governing platform. We have widely clarified in 2016 when even within our coalition we had different approaches to the comprehensiveness and extensiveness of the reform. Albania has itself chosen to have an international presence assisting in the vetting process; no one has imposed this model on us.

And now, the conclusions of the Council of the European Union also reflect what the Commission wrote in its report. Thus, if in 2016 the European Commission’s recommendation to open accession negotiations talks was closely related to the adoption of the vetting law and its implementation, no one today questions the fact that not only the law has passed but also that the vetting process has started. We must now focus our energies on the fact that this process has reached an irreversible point. The same is true for other elements that elaborate the implementation process of justice reform, or the fight against organized crime and corruption, or the consolidation reforms in areas related to property rights, freedoms and fundamental human rights and the national minorities enjoying their rights. This is the first point.

The second point you mentioned is the electoral law in consensus with the opposition. I have to correct you. First, the conclusions of the Council recommend considering and addressing the recommendations of the OSCE-ODIHR because it is an international arbitrator with an indisputable authority that monitors the election processes, not only in Albania but also in EU member states or USA. A Decalogue (a set of rules) has been drafted, a bipartisan commission has been established in the Albanian Parliament and our willingness as political majority to push the process, but we are just one wheel of the bicycle and the bicycle needs two wheels to ride. There must be another wheel, which is the opposition. We should not waste time. All OSCE-ODIHR recommendations whether depoliticization of the administration in the electoral process, which is the most important recommendation, but also others recommendations, should be translated into concrete legislative initiatives.