The evaluations and subsequent recommendations of the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring body, the Group of State Against Corruption (GRECO), are instrumental in advancing legal and institutional reforms for preventing corruption. To support Albanian authorities to better follow-up on the implementation of those recommendations, as well as to report before GRECO during evaluations, on 9 May 2022,  the joint EU and Council of Europe 'Action against Economic Crime in Albania' trained 34 Albanian official stakeholders.

 

Two Council of Europe experts, both of whom with thorough experience in GRECO -one as its former President, and the second as former member of its Bureau- presented and discussed with participants best practices and approaches to enhance compliance with GRECO’s recommendations. Practical examples were provided to the training participants in order to inform the discussion and clarify topics such as effective reporting on the introduction of anti-corruption measures, and how to inform on the accomplishments achieved vis-à-vis GRECO’s recommendations. Training experts highlighted how proper communication and interaction with GRECO’s evaluators, as well as with its Secretariat, can help countries in better understanding and fulfilling GRECO’s proposals for improvement. To ensure a satisfactory level of implementation of these recommendations, training experts invited Albanian authorities to draft an action plan to define specific indicators, identify responsible institutions, and establish clear timeframes for the execution of such recommendations.

In the training, Albanian Deputy Minister of Justice, Mrs. Adea Pirdeni acknowledged the assistance provided by the Council of Europe in improving the reporting skills and capacities of the Albanian delegation to GRECO. Referring to the relevance of GRECO’s recommendations in the European integration process of Albania, Mrs. Pirdeni re-affirmed the right momentum of providing such assistance which will improve Albania’s input into the GRECO process.

The Action against Economic Crime in Albania is part of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”, a joint programme of the European Union and Council of Europe, which aims at assisting beneficiaries in the Western Balkans region and Turkey to comply with the Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process.