“For our country, the process of European integration is the most important event in terms of admission into an international organization since the Second World War. This is a watershed moment and to achieve this goal all of us must work in harmony,” said Mazi.

“In 2018, the EC proposed the opening of accession negotiations for Albania. The Union’s failure to take a positive decision in 2019 was portrayed by the Italian Prime Minister as a “historic mistake of the EU.” Ongoing, yet positive pressures, the progress of reforms in the country, the annual reports of the Commission for Albania resulted in a positive decision after two years of failures. The Council decided on March 25, 2020, to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.

“After this decision, the objective of Albania remains the approval of the negotiating framework for Albania and the holding of the First EU-Albania Intergovernmental Conference on the technical start of membership negotiations, ie Albania and EC sitting at the table,” said Mazi.

Mazi said that, “this objective would be achieved through the re-submission of the clear recommendation from the Commission to the European Council for the start of negotiations on the enlargement package for 2020. Approval of the negotiating framework, setting a date for the First Intergovernmental Conference.”

“The Commission assessed in November 2020 that Albania is close to meeting the conditions before the First Intergovernmental Conference, there was only one more practical step left,” said Mazi.

” In national framework, from the June 2020 meeting of this Council, the action plan and measures for its implementation were drafted,” said Mazi.

He added that concrete work and achievements have been in progress on several priority lines.

“The political decision was taken on March 25, 2020. The First Intergovernmental Conference was expected to be held as soon as possible, immediately after the approval of the negotiating framework by the Council. This is how it was meant. By then Albania should have met the specific requirements set out in the March 2020 Council conclusions. Based on a clear breakdown and understanding that not all of the requirements listed in the Council decision, or the Council conclusions, should be met before the First Intergovernmental Conference, we drafted the measures for fulfilling the priorities for the First Government Conference, for their implementation before the approval of the negotiating framework for Albania. From this perspective, the Action Plan laid down the steps towards meeting the priorities before the First Intergovernmental Conference, which included the adoption of electoral reform in line with OSCE / ODIHR recommendations, the functioning of the Constitutional Court and the High Court, achieving a quorum, setting up and functioning of SPAK and NIB structures, strengthening the fight against corruption and organized crime, increasing cooperation with the member states of the Union,” stressed Mazi.

“The Council of March 25, 2020 set other key priorities, for which it was agreed that they would be an integral part of the negotiating framework to be presented to Albania at the First Intergovernmental Conference,” added Mazi.

Mazi added that, “the concrete work of the government and all state institutions was uninterrupted implementation of reforms related to the European integration process, prioritizing the fulfillment of the requirements for holding the First Intergovernmental Conference. They were fulfilled as follows. June 5, 2020 the Political Council completed the draft on electoral reform with the participation of the out- of- parliament opposition, a cross-party agreement was reached between the majority and the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition. The June 5 agreement became a bylaw through the adoption of several amendments to the law, Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania in the plenary session of July 23, 2020. The amendments to the Electoral Code comprehensively address the OSCE / ODIHR recommendations, delivering on this condition for holding the First Intergovernmental Conference.

“The Constitutional Court became functional with the quorum of 6 members in December 2020. Today the Constitutional Court has 7 members. The appointment of 3 non-magistrate candidates for the High Court enabled the functioning of one of the Court chambers, delivering on another condition for the First Intergovernmental Conference,” Mazi said.

“SPAK and the Special Prosecution office are fully functional since December 2019. The Director of NIB was appointed on July 30, 2020 and started exercising his duty. The above developments meet the condition for the first intergovernmental conference,” said Mazi.

“The fight against corruption continued to gain momentum. Ongoing progress has been made, consolidating operational coordination and monitoring capacities. Tangible results were achieved in the fight against organized crime, including through cooperation with EU member states,” stressed Mazi, adding that “this requirement for holding the First Intergovernmental Conference was fulfilled either.”

“Still, there is not a date for the First Intergovernmental Conference, yet this does not mean that we should not continue to achieve concrete results in delivering on the priorities in this plan across their spectrum and in full. EC is expected to make another assessment soon for the fulfillment of conditions before the First Intergovernmental Conference,” said Mazi.
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