Albania and the Council of Europe

Albania became a member of the Council of Europe on July 13, 1995.

Albania has functioned as a pluralistic parliamentary democracy since spring elections of 1991. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe sent for the first time observers to these elections. Based on the conclusions of the observer mission and the subsequent political developments, the Albanian parliament was granted the status of ‘special guest’ to the Parliamentary Assembly of CoE, on November 25, 1991.

From April 1991 to September 1993 eight constitutional laws were adopted thus improving the legal framework for the establishment of democracy. These laws provided for the establishement of a parliamentary republic and settled the foundation for the division of powers. Likewise, the laws provided a list of human rights and fundamental freedoms, based on consultation with international experts.

Albania applied to join the Council of Europe on 4 May 1992. By Resolution (92) 9 of 21 May 1992, the Committee of Ministers requested the Parliamentary Assembly to provide an opinion, in accordance with Statutory Resolution (51) 30 A.

Starting from May 1992 the reporters of Monitoring Committee of the Assembly held several successive visits to the country. The implementation of a joint program of the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the fields of human rights and the rule of law started in in January 1993. The program aimed at the the training of judges, lawyers and police, the prosecutorial reform, the judicial system, the penitentiary, drafting the civil and criminal code and procedural codes.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe assessed that Albania, in terms of Article 4 of the Statute, was capable and willing to fulfill the conditions for membership to the Council of Europe, as defined in Article 3 which states that: “Every member of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule of law and of the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and collaborate sincerely and effectively in the realisation of the aim of the Council as specified in Chapter I”.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe trusted that Albania shall interpret the commitments taken fully in line with those defined in paragraphs 13 and 16 of its Statute, so it expressed a favorable Opinion in 1995, by accepting the request for membership by the Albanian authorities.

The thirteen commitments of Opinion 189 (1995) of Parliamentary Assembly settled the basis of obligations and engagements undertaken by the Albanian government with regard to the Council of Europe membership. To date, Albania has fulfilled almost all these commitments and after the positive decision that was taken on March 6, 2024 by the Monitoring Committee of the Assembly, it is expected that in April 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly will close the monitoring procedure in respect of Albania and will start engaging in a post-monitoring dialogue.

Albania has undertaken a comprehensive reform of its judiciary system, adopted in 2017 a comprehensive law on the protection of national minorities, strengthened its fight against corruption and money laundering –was positively assessed by MONEYVAL, which in October 2023 decided to remove Albania from the grey list countries. Albania has fulfilled most of the recommendations from different monitoring mechanism of the Council of Europe.

Albania has signed and ratified 93 of the Council of Europe treaties.

Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of Albania (May 23 to November 9, 2012)

The Republic of Albania chaired the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for the first time since its membership. To support and promote the fundamental values ​​of the organization, the Albanian Presidency was focused on the following priorities:

• Promoting sustainable democratic societies;
• Strengthening the local and regional democracy;
• Strengthening the rule of law in Europe;
• Bringing forward the political reform of the organization;
• Guaranteeing the long term effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights;
• Guaranteeing the protection and promotion of human rights;
• Stimulating intra- and inter-institutional dialogue.
• Promoting sustainable democratic societies;

Cooperation between Albania and the Council of Europe

The Cooperation Document was a strategic and sectorial instrument that allowed for access to a comprehensive cooperation and aimed to support the country in meeting its obligations in accordance with European standards in the field of human rights, rule of law and democracy.

Main areas in the document include the political priorities of the country (including the criteria for EU membership), the standards and recommendations of the CoE monitoring bodies as well as previous experience of the implementation of cooperation programs between the CoE and Albania.

The Cooperation Document covered the following areas:

• Ensuring Justice;
• Fighting Corruption, Economic Crime and Organised Crime;
• Freedom of Expression and Information Society;
• Anti-discrimination, Respect for Human Rights and Social Inclusion;
• Democratic Governance and Participation

The first Cooperation Document covered the period 2012-2014 and the second one covered the period 2015-2017.

Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye

The Horizontal Instrument for the Western Balkans and Turkey is a co-operation initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe for Southeast Europe. Actions under the HF are mainly funded by the EU (85%) and co-financed (15%) and implemented by the Council of Europe.

The Horizontal Instrument covers five areas:

• ensuring justice,
• fight against economic crime
• fight against discrimination
• protection of the rights of vulnerable groups
• freedom of expression and the media.

First phase (2016-2019) Albania benefited in seven specific projects with a budget of 4.75 million Euros, in the fields of justice, judicial services, penitentiary system, fight against economic crime, education, anti-discrimination, vulnerable groups, the rights of national minorities.

Second phase of the HF (2019-2022), Albania benefited a budget from 25 million euros to 41 million euros, aimed to support reforms in four areas:

–           Ensuring justice;

–           Fight against corruption;

–           Fight against discrimination and human rights;

–           Freedom of expression and media

Third phase of HF Program (2023 – 2026), the following actions will be implemented in the four thematic areas of the program and will be complemented by regional actions:

Topic I: Strengthening of Justice

• Strengthening the quality and efficiency of justice in Albania (SEJ IV) – €859,000
• Improving the protection of the right to property and facilitating the execution of ECtHR decisions in Albania (D-REX III) – €900,000
• Increasing the protection of the human rights of prisoners in Albania – €850,000

Regional actions:

• Towards a better assessment of the results of judicial reform efforts in the Western Balkans – Phase II “Dashboard Western Balkans II” – €1,404,000
• Increasing cooperation in the Western Balkans in managing violent extremism in prisons and preventing further radicalization after release – €1,650,000

Topic II: The fight against corruption, economic crime, and money laundering

• Action against economic crime in Albania: Strengthening the capacities of Albanian institutions in preventing and fighting corruption, money laundering and organized crime – €895,000

Regional actions:

• Action against economic crime in the Western Balkans – €650,000

Topic III – Promotion of anti-discrimination and protection of the rights of vulnerable groups

• Advancing protection against discrimination in Albania – €850,000

Regional actions:

• Promotion of equality and the fight against racism and intolerance in the Western Balkans – €700,000
• Women’s access to justice in the Western Balkans (WAJ) – €1,000,000

Topic IV – Promotion and protection of freedom of expression and media

• Protection of freedom of expression and media in Albania (PRO-FREX-A) – €465,000