TIRANA – The International Monitoring Operation (IMO) Management Board held its constitutive meeting on Wednesday to begin monitoring the vetting of members of Albania’s judiciary. The meeting was chaired by Ms Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, Director for Western Balkans at the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission. The IMO Management Board is composed of representatives of the European Commission, and of the United States government.
The IMO Management Board deploys monitoring teams made up of senior judges and prosecutors from EU Member States and the United States. They will monitor the process of forming the vetting bodies, as well as the re-evaluation of all judges and prosecutors within the Albanian judiciary.
While the IMO Management Board will perform a monitoring role, it will not make any executive decision. All final decisions lie with the national authorities. The IMO is dedicated to diligently monitoring and overseeing the process of vetting.
The IMO will perform its tasks with professionalism, impartiality and in accordance with the law.
The smooth and successful completion of the vetting process will help Albania address shortcomings in the justice sector. It will also allow the country to progress on its European integration path, consistent with the European Commission’s conditional recommendation of November 2016 to open accession negotiations.
The Management Board of the IMO looks forward to further implementation of this justice reform package, which has the potential to turn the Albanian judiciary into a fully independent, impartial, accountable and professional system.
(Full text of the statement can be found on: https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/albania/20139/joint-press-release-announcing-constitution-international-monitoring-operation-management_en)