Open Society Foundation for Albania

	4 September 2008 Encouragement of cooperation between local government and central institutions onwards 10 july 2008 Interim SAA monitoring report issued 4 july 2008 Transformation of “Besa” Foundation underway 27 june 2008 National conference organized on community organization issues and models 26-27 june 2008 Training seminar held with local government bodies on profits from EU funds 17 june 2008 First report on government efforts to re-build Gërdec issued 13 june 2008 Second 2008 state budget monitorin report published 10 june 2008 Regional project on visa facilitation for Western Balkans introduced 6 may 2008 Round table on transparency in education and promotion of teacher code of ethics 22 april 2008 Round table on state budget monitoring 14 april 2008 Cooperation practices between business and civil society promoted 29 march 2008 Free legal aid for the inhabitants of Gërdec 20 march 2008 Aid to individuals displaced due to Gërdec tragedy 13 march 2008 Lobbying on the law on the right to information under way 15 february 2008 Public presentation of the recommending document on the electoral reform 26 january 2008 Lobbing and advocacy on encouragement of social inclusion November 2007 Training courses on participatory governance 5 November 2007 Third report on monitoring the Assembly activity presented 2 November 2007 American University in Bulgaria evening with high school students 1 November 2007 Monitoring of commitments deriving from the SAA 18 October 2007 Survey on European Integration issues 15-19 October 2007 Team training and supplement production on European Integration 15 October 2007 International Conference on public urban spaces in Albania 12 October 2007 National conference on strategic privatizations 5 October 2007 New draft-law against discrimination proposed 15 September 2007 Dialogue required on government-proposed amendment to law on non-profit organizations 14 September 2007 Activities on the draft-law on electoral reform 3 August 2007 Students and public life 20 July 2007 Debating the law regarding publishing and the copyright 11 July 2007 Debating some amendments of the law on the right for information 10 July 2007 Presentation of the project for a sharing budget 29 June 2007 Increasing the management capacity of the municipality and involvement of citizens in the decision-taking process 25 June 2007 Amendment proposal for the law 8503 regarding the right for information 21 June 2007 The employment of students graduated abroad in the public administration 30 May 2007 Dialog civil society - government aiming at the reduction of informality 11 May 2007 Second report on the activity of Albanian Parliament is published 4 April 2007 Memorandum of the farmers for exports complying European standards 29 March 2007 Monitoring of the parliamentary process of drafts law debating 28 March 2007 The civil society is in favor of the creation of a state committee against blood feud 16 March 2007 Monitoring of the migration strategy 26 February 2007 Signature of the Memorandum of Understanding 18-20 February 2007 Parallel counting of votes 13 February 2007 The Civil Society demands the relaxation of conflictuality of the election campaign 3 February 2007 Local elections 2007 online by the MJAFT Movement 30 January 2007 Seminar on “Improving public transportation in the region of Tirana” 23 Janauary 2007 Memorandum of civil society to protect its own constitutional rights 18 January 2007 Call of the civil society for a civilized election campaign 22 December 2007 Winners announced for the “Public-private partnership” contest 19 December 2006 Workshop "Albania's Interim Agreement with the EU and its effects on the Albanian Business" 1 December 2006 Debate of the civil society about the new draft law concerning the State Police 21 November 2006 Presenting the findings of the survey “Albania and the EU – Perceptions and Realities” 18 November 2006 The Conference “Albania and Greece – Mutual perceptions” 6-10 November 2006 Seminar on the challenges of European Integration 3 November 2006 Debate about book policies in the countries of Western Balkans 3 November 2006 AUBG closes recruitment ceremony with fourth-grade students of high schools in Tirana 1 November 2006 Organization that builds school wins case against Albanian government 14 October 2006 Standards in pre-university education 10 October 2006 Presentation of the monitoring report ivote.com - January-July 2006 16 September 2006 Historical turns and the return of memory

10 July 2008

After the first public appearance in November of 2007, the Open Society Foundation for Albania has published recently the interim report for 2008. In June, this report was also submitted to the EU authorities in Brussels.

The report is a contribution of a group of experts that have monitored the work of the Albanian government in the European integration process during the period from October 2007 until March 2008. The monitoring process was focused in four main directions: democracy and the rule of law, fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, home affairs and the institutional framework and administrative capacities on the management of the European integration process.

For the first direction, experts observe that despite the existence of a climate of consensus on the approval of the 87 laws and ratification of the international conventions, the government has not reported in the Assembly on the Council of Europe’s report of 6 November 2007. This period is characterized by the inflation of establishment of parliamentary investigatory groups, delays in the electoral reform, where the most concerning issue was the failure to draft the national register and the ID cards, weak performance of the public administration, still low standards in the justice system, lack of the monitoring instruments in the fight against corruption as well as clashes of competencies between the central and local government bodies in the decentralization process.

For the second direction, experts identify the lack of applicability by Albania of the European Court judgments, maltreatment of the detained suspects by the police, the lack of implementation of access to justice and in particular violation of the rights of the convicts for proceeding with the judgment of the case by the High Court, lack of protection systems for the people in need and the ones with limited abilities, updating of the statistical data on minorities and the slow speed of implementation of the Roma People Protection Strategy.

In respect to home affairs, the OSFA experts submitted progresses and problems that have to do with the visa policy, asylum seeking, migration, readmission, integrated border management, personal data protection, organized crime and traffics, fight against drugs, prevention of money laundering, fight against terrorism and efficiency in the police work.

The institutional framework and the administrative capacities on management of the European integration process, according to the experts, is still problematic. The periodic reports of the Albanian government addressed to the Council of Europe are prepared by the Ministry of European Integration are not made public and are not approved by the Council of Ministers or another higher administrative structure. Also, it results that the Assembly does not exert a supervisory role in this process and that the government has prepared no report for this purpose. The technical taskforce committee on the SAA implementation has been convened only once, units of European integration have been established only in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Environment, while in six ministries there is only one specialist that deals with the European integration issues.

The final report for 2008 is planned to be issued at the end of October.