The Council of the European Union is unhappy with the state of Albania’s legal system, as indicated by a leaked document on the Balkan nation’s accession process.
The internal document, officially a ‘non-paper,’ calls for protection measures to ensure judicial independence. It also criticises the ruling Socialists for their approach towards Albania’s Constitutional Court:
While the resilience of the judiciary has overall improved, increased attempts by public officials or politicians to exert undue interference and pressure on the judicial system aggravated concerns.
The non-paper chastises Tirana—whose Socialist mayor Erion Veliaj was arrested on corruption charges—for Prime Minister Edi Rama’s hostility to Veliaj’s prosecution.
Other concerns regarding “compliance with the EU acquis” highlight the perceived problem of overly concentrated media ownership.
While such comments are not official policy, as far as we know, and are only in the public domain on account of a leak, they nevertheless point to a rocky relationship between Brussels and Tirana in the years ahead. Even if Albania is able to complete its EU accession process, the Council’s scrutiny highlights the scope for frequent ‘rule-of-law’ disputes in future.
