Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-042"
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"en.20060906.5.3-042"2
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".
Madam President, of all the European countries, Albania has had the longest row to hoe in the transition from communist dictatorship to liberal democracy. It is a country that groaned under Stalinism well into the 1980s, thus it must be clear to all of us that it faced far greater challenges than other post-communist countries like my own, for whom the worst excesses of Stalinist totalitarianism ended in the 1950s.
The report says that electoral legislation must be reformed. This means a more reliable voters’ registry and changes in the system to avoid distortion of the proportionality system – this system is currently known as the ‘Dushk’ system in Albania – because, let us be honest, faith and democracy will not last if the voters’ will is distorted. I think this is one of the crucial democracy issues that the country faces today.
The report underlines the need for Albania to continue with its responsible attitude towards neighbouring countries, particularly towards Kosovo and FYROM. As we know, there are substantial Albanian minorities in FYROM, and Kosovo, of course, is an Albanian area. We welcome the attitude taken thus far by Albania in not getting involved in those problems.
I have received six amendments. I will take on board Amendment 5 from Mr Brie and Mr Meijer on the need to address the issue of trafficking of children. Amendments 1 and 2 are good in principle, but in the opinion of the rapporteur will be more appropriate when Albania has made far more progress in dealing with its fundamental problems involving corruption, the rule of law and economic reforms. In my opinion, Amendment 3 on the treatment of prisoners is already covered in the report.
To conclude, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this report, but I would especially like to single out Mrs Pack, the dynamo driving so much of this House’s approach to bringing the Balkans into Europe.
Albania has made enormous progress: the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is proof of it. At the same time, Albania should not rest on its laurels. To meet its European calling it needs to do more. The SAA is a milepost, it is not a destination.
I would sum up my report as follows. The SAA and the interim agreement offer a golden opportunity for Albania to modernise itself and become a competitive market economy, the sine qua non for joining the EU.
Secondly, genuine economic development requires a stable and transparent legal environment. This means a professional and independent judiciary, an effective and politically unbiased fight against corruption and an efficient, well-functioning public administration.
Thirdly, as with all transition countries, a sound legal framework is not enough. Good laws on the books help little if they are not enforced. Progress must be made in implementing the adopted reforms.
Fourthly, progress in achieving the standards laid down in the SAA, and therefore implementing the reforms, should be monitored by the EU by means of concrete benchmarks.
In addition to these general themes, I would like to underline a number of specific points in the report. While giving full support to Albania’s European perspective in line with the Thessaloniki conclusions, the report underlines that Albania needs to pursue the fulfilment of European values and standards as a goal in itself. It calls for a visa facilitation agreement with Albania. Today, citizens of a small country with a European perspective have a less favourable visa regime with the EU than a large country with no membership prospects – Russia.
The report calls on the EU and Albania to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of the 2004 accession states. The challenges faced by Albania are not unique; there is no need to reinvent the wheel when the expertise of the wheelwrights of reform from eight post-communist EU Member States is freely available.
The report notes that a recent Amnesty International report was critical of Albania for violations of human rights in areas of access to legal defence, the problems of torture and brutality towards prisoners, and so on. These deficiencies must be corrected."@en1
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"Toomas Hendrik Ilves (PSE ),"1
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