The Supreme Court’s United Colleges, sitting in a panel of 16 judges, issued a unifying decision on Monday aimed at harmonising judicial practice and strengthening safeguards for personal liberty.

The move follows an initiative by the court’s chief justice to address inconsistencies in how lower courts request, justify and apply pre-trial detention. The ruling seeks to align domestic practice with the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The court said existing practice required clarification and further development, stressing that detention – the most severe restriction on personal liberty – cannot be based on general or formulaic reasoning.

Instead, courts must provide concrete, case-specific and reviewable justifications.

The decision sets out three key principles.

First, pre-trial detention must be treated as an exceptional measure, not the default. Courts are required to carry out a genuine, individualised assessment in every case and must consider less restrictive alternatives.

The court overturned a previous approach under which judges were not required to meaningfully examine alternative measures, saying it was incompatible with both domestic law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Second, detention may be ordered only when other measures are unsuitable.

Third, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution, which must justify both the imposition and continuation of pre-trial detention. Courts, in turn, are obliged to verify this necessity at every stage of proceedings.

The Supreme Court said the decision is intended to strengthen protections for personal liberty, raise the standard of judicial reasoning and ensure greater consistency, predictability and proportionality in judicial practice.

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Malaj stated that SPAK has shown integrity; it has conducted proactive and financial investigations; it uses modern technology, trains specialists and cooperates with international agencies such as Europol, Eurojust and OLAF.

“SPAK has done a good job that deserves appreciation. It has shown integrity, has opened investigations like never before and has dealt blows at levels that no one would have dared to touch before,” Malaj said.

According to him, this has increased the trust of the public and European partners.

“This is a new working standard and above all, it is a standard that has increased the public trust and confidence of our international partners. This fact is not an opinion, but is reflected in the evaluations of EU’s reports,” he stated.

However, he stressed that the institution needs to further improve its efficiency and focus on issues of great importance, as well as build its capacities in financial investigations, cybercrime and transnational organized crime.

“After almost 6 years of activity, SPAK has now entered a new phase, where expectations are higher: expectations for more professionalism, for due process, and for strict adherence to recognized standards, including the unifying decisions of the Supreme Court, the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights”, Malaj said.

The socialist MP also underlined that politics should support justice without using it for the interests of the day, while respecting its independence. /j.p/p.s./

The agency estimated that Albania has consistently demonstrated its ability to withstand shocks, including the 2019 earthquake, the COVID-19 pandemic and the indirect macroeconomic effects of the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite these obstacles, the agency estimated that Albania’s economy has grown at an impressive average of 5.8% per year over the past three years, while simultaneously improving public finance parameters.

The agency attributed this economic resilience, in part, to a significant increase in tourism. This boom in the tourism sector helped Albania increase service exports by nearly 15% of the GDP between 2019 and 2023, significantly strengthening its external position.

Moreover, the agency noted that the Albanian authorities have shown their commitment to fiscal consolidation. Combined with strong economic growth, these efforts have led to a significant reduction in public debt, from a peak of 74.5% of GDP in 2020 to an estimated 58% in 2023.

The agency predicted that Albania’s moderate growth prospects and relatively high reserves provide protection against possible external shocks./r.e/p.s./

The “positive outlook” according to the agency reflects its view that the country’s fiscal parameters will continue to improve beyond the agency’s expectations, through the government’s efforts to consolidate public finances.

Moreover, despite a slowdown in the country’s main trading partner, the EU, the agency predicts that the parameters of Albania’s external position may improve more than expected, as the global economy recovers and the Albanian tourism sector continues to expand.

The agency predicts that after a moderation in growth for this year to 3%, mainly due to lower foreign demand from Europe, growth is expected to regain speed after the current year 2023, relying also on the easing of financial conditions and the increase of global economic activity.

The agency expects the budget deficit to converge to around 2% of GDP by 2026 and the public debt to be reduced to 58.3% in 2026 from 64.5% resulting in 2022, being in line with the fiscal rules of primary balance and reduction of public debt defined in the Organic Budget Law (OBL).

The agency notes that inflation has fallen, reaching 4% in August, down significantly from 7.2% in January, and it predicts that inflation will average 4.7% for 2023, then gradually decline to targeted at 3%, also thanks to the strengthening of the Lek.

Given Albania’s lack of bilateral and geographical disputes, its strong domestic support for the EU and the government’s parliamentary majority, which facilitates the passage of reforms, the agency believes the country is well-positioned to advance its bid for EU membership, without major external obstacles. /p.s./

During this meeting, the head of Customs asked for more commitment on the part of every customs officer, considering that the Customs Administration has an important role in the free movement of people and goods.

Gazheli also emphasized the need to offer a quality service according to standards for every citizen or business./gj.m/p.s./

During the speech, Rama said that Durrës, also through Pristina and Struga, will give this region a new face, promoting the commercial standard to another level.

“Starting from integration with Kosovo and North Macedonia through Pristina and Struga and then extending to all other countries, Durrës will give this region a completely different face and a completely different capacity for handling new commercial volumes”, said Rama.

On the other hand, Rama added, “This is a port that takes regional cooperation, started with 1001 difficulties, to a completely different level”.

“This project will be simultaneously the project with the highest standards of professionalism in the design and with those standards of transparency and quality throughout the competition process that have characterized the very successful international competitions organized by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy”, emphasized Rama. /j.p/r.e/p.s./

In a post on social media, Ibrahimaj said that the agency predicts that real growth, after a solid recovery in 2021, although it will slow down in 2022, will recover further, mainly from high investments, as well as a stronger internal and foreign demand.

Also, the minister emphasized that the agency estimates that, unlike other countries in the region, Albania’s commercial and financial exposure to Russia and Ukraine is negligible, which limits the impact of the conflict on the economy.

Due to several external shocks that Albania has faced in recent years, the agency expects that the fiscal consolidation will be somewhat more gradual. The Agency values ​​the expectations that the public debt will stabilize and continue to decrease in the coming years, given that the authorities will respect their fiscal rules as defined by the Organic Budget Law. These fiscal rules require the government to achieve a positive primary balance from 2024 onwards and a debt-to-GDP ratio that continues to decline until it reaches and remains below 45% of GDP.

Also, the agency notes that inflation in Albania has risen to the highest level since 1999, reaching 7.4% in June. However, it remains low compared to the region. The agency expects inflation to remain high, averaging 6.4% for 2022, but expects it to gradually return to around the 3% target level thereafter, due to both monetary policy tightening and weakened price pressures from abroad. Meanwhile, the strong stability of the Lek has reduced the pressures on public finances and the banking system.

The agency estimates that Albania’s banking sector is liquid, well-capitalized and profitable. Non-performing loans were reduced to 5.4% of total loans in May 2022, compared to a peak of nearly 25% in 2014. Overall, the risk of contingent liabilities of the banking system remains low. Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserves generated by the economy and accumulated over the years by the central bank constitute an important buffer against possible external shocks./p.s./

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in cooperation with Albinspekt bio.inspecta and with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC launched the initiative to establish a national technical working group for the implementation of the GlobalG.AP standard in fruits and vegetables “Made in Albania”.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Emira Gjeçi, present at the meeting held today in Tirana by the working group, said that “GlobalG.A.P is one of the most required standards by the markets of the European Union and beyond”.

“GlobalG.A.P in Albania is to encourage and support the actors involved through the adaptation of the requirements of the GlobalG.A.P standard with the local conditions of Albania and will also be a source of valuable information about this standard that is a passport for agricultural exports to international markets “, said Gjeçi.

The technical working group consists of 9 members: exporters, consultants certified by GlobalG.A.P, consulting company, agronomists, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as agribusiness associations.

Today, Albanian agricultural exports go to 75 countries around the world. Agricultural exports, in total, have increased from about $ 100 million at the end of 2014 to $ 400 million at the end of 2020, and are projected to reach over $ 1 billion in the next four years.

The agricultural sector is among the sectors with the largest contribution to Gross Domestic Product, about 20%. In Albania in 2013, there were cultivated about 125 thousand ha of land, while today are cultivated 250 thousand ha of land. /j.p/r.e/p.s./

Minister of Finance and Economy Anila Denaj stated that, “The agency estimated that the economy will recover during the current year and predicts an economic growth of 5% and that by the end of 2021 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will recover at the levels of the year 2019 (before the pandemic)”.

“It is appreciated the drafting of a medium-term strategy to increase revenue collection, as well as reforms to ensure fiscal good governance and modernize the existing fiscal system,” said Denaj.

While stating that, “The Agency expects that the fiscal deficit, which increased sharply in 2020, will begin to decrease from 2022 and will contribute to the level of public debt to GDP begin to decrease, while the economy recovers and spending on measures against the pandemic will be extinguished.

S&P estimated that the authorities intend to use any fiscal space to continue with the payment of arrears accumulated in previous years, in particular the attention to the stock recovery in VAT refund.

The agency said that revenue losses, additional costs associated with the pandemic, as well as increased capital expenditures caused the deficit in 2020 to expand to about 6.8% of GDP, from 1.9% in 2019. The revised 2021 budget aims to the same level of deficit in relation to GDP, and a continuation of high capital expenditures.

The agency predicted that the ratio of total government debt to GDP, after peaking at about 78% of GDP in 2021, is expected to fall from 2022 onwards, as the economy recovers and the effect of support measures gradually diminishes.

The Agency considered this level of debt to be relatively high, and also estimated that it is exposed to potential fiscal risks./p.s./

The risk indicator for being poor in Albania in 2019 is 23.0%, experiencing a decrease of 0.4 points compared to 2018 and 0.7 points, compared to 2017.

Poverty indicators in the Income and Living Standards Survey are based on the relative concept of poverty, which takes into account disposable household income, number of family members (family size) and income distribution among population groups .

The risk limit of being poor for a person in 2019 is estimated at about 17000 ALL, compared to 16000 ALL that was in 2018 and 14500 ALL that was in 2017.

In 2019, there were estimated about 659,000 individuals living below the risk threshold of being poor, compared to about 671,000 individuals estimated in 2018. This indicates that the overall level of disposable household income has increased and the number of individuals at risk to be poor has decreased by about 1.8%./p.s./