TIRANA – Progress in the implementation of Albania’s Reform Agenda relies on transparency and cooperation between state and non-state actors, assessed the participants of a meeting held in Tirana. Multiple speakers pointed out the lack of sufficient involvement of relevant stakeholders, including civil society, in the process so far.
The meeting was organized last week by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation. Albania’s Reform Agenda was approved in October together with the Reform Agendas of four other countries from the region (the Reform Agenda of BiH remains to be adopted). The documents contain measures to be taken for the release of funding from the EU’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
“The delay in publishing the Reform Agenda and the lack of willingness from the Chief Negotiator’s office to engage in meetings organized by civil society remain a concern. Civil society is here to stay and given that the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans goes beyond being merely an economic plan, we call for increased cooperation with state institutions to accelerate the pace and quality of reforms,” said Gjergji Vurmo, Senior Advisor at IDM.
Jorida Tabaku, Member of the Albanian Parliament and Chairperson of its National Council on EU integration expressed concerns about the current state of the integration process, stating that it lacks meaningful discussions and inclusivity. She expressed concerns about the Council on European Integration’s lack of access to the Reform Agenda drafts and the Parliament’s limited involvement in the process.
Daniel Prroni, a researcher at IDM, introduced the initiative and the methodology that will be used to monitor the implementation of the Reform Agenda. He mentioned that this will be done with semi-annual reports and the establishment of a multistakeholder consultation Platform.
Blerjana Bino from SCIDEV commented on the fundamentals and the digital transition in the Reform Agenda, assessing that the urgency of the entire consultation process may undermine the quality of the outcomes.
“As civil society, we were expecting a more comprehensive expansion of the reforms rather than just a ‘to-do list’ and we are still unclear about the role of civil society in this process. Monitoring by civic actors is essential to offer the EU an alternative perspective to the narrative presented through government inputs”, Bino said.
Zana Vokopola from the Urban Research Institute discussed one of the objectives of the reform Agenda related to carbon trading mechanisms.
“In theory, setting up a system for carbon trading may seem simple, however, I believe that Albanian companies are not prepared to do this all in one year. In the energy sector, Albania has started making progress by developing several strategies, but more work is needed to align with the EU legislation”, she said.
Ardita Seknaj from the International Chamber of Commerce asserted that the private sector has not been informed or involved in the process of the consultation of the Reform Agenda and that the proposed reforms could have been more ambitious.
Professor Selami Xhepa from the European University in Tirana highlighted that the Growth Plan represents the EU’s most ambitious initiative for the region, offering more accessible funding tied to conditionality. He also emphasized that economic reform measures should be guided by insights from key documents such as the Letta and Draghi reports.
“Unlike the IPA funds, where insufficient administrative capacities have often been seen as the main obstacle to achieving progress, the Growth Plan addresses this challenge by investing in capacity-building. If we focus on the new reforms without supporting the existing industries, there is a risk that convergence with the EU will decline further” Professor Xhepa stated.
The national event in Tirana is part of a series of national events in the six Western Balkan countries within the project “Pathways to EU Integration: Advancing the Dialogue on the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans” funded by the Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans.
The event in Tirana was preceded by a roundtable discussion on Kosovo’s Reform Agenda, which was organized in Pristina by the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) on 5 December.
Public officials who participated in the event in Kosovo stated that the Reform Agenda will support the process of public administration reform even further and that the that the Office of the Prime Minister as an institution will bear the main burden of inter-institutional coordination.
GLPS also stated that it regrets the lack of substantial consultations during the drafting phase of the Reform Agenda and called for deeper coordination and consultation with relevant stakeholders such as the Parliament and civil society in the implementation phase.
The first event in the series was held in Skopje on 2 December, with a focus on the Macedonian Reform Agenda.