For Albania’s Affairs

by Ditmir Bushati  

Albania’s EU accession process is being covered by the fog of a debate that serves no one. Public opinion is being oriented around the approval or non-approval of the European Commission’s Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR) in the field of the rule of law.

From the very starting point, the negotiation process has suffered from a lack of transparency, consultation, and accountability. While the EU has made public its negotiating position with Albania for all clusters, as well as the interim benchmarks that must be fulfilled in relation to the rule of law, Albania’s negotiating position has been kept confidential, not giving the Parliament, civil society, the media, academics, and business the opportunity to be truly part of this process.

Today we are in a paradoxical situation, where on the one hand there is talk of “completed boxes” and “92 gaps filled,” of “the trust we have earned from the European Commission,” and even that “the Commission speaks with EU member states on our behalf”; and on the other hand, there is talk of a “blocking of the process,” by acting as spokespersons for the concerns of EU member states. To paraphrase the well-known American psychologist Herbert Simon, this type of information creates a poverty of attention.

In the middle of the negotiation process for EU accession, an information campaign has also begun. However, no one is making the effort to explain how European standards are being translated into good governance and social progress. On the contrary, the interaction between the Commission and EU member states is being commented on, as if we were spectators and not protagonists of our own fate. An interaction which has also occurred in the past for the opening and the conclusion of negotiations for the Stabilisation and Association Agreement; for the recommendation for candidate country status; for the opening of accession negotiations to the EU.

There is speaking in the name of the Commission or of EU member states, in the absence of a real analysis of the countless challenges that lie ahead. There is no discussion at all of how and through which reforms Albania will become a modern European state in the sense of the rule of law and of sustainable economic and social development.

We have re-entered the roundabout of mutual political accusations, showing a lack of corrective capacity for delays that in many cases we ourselves cause. Even today, when because of geopolitics the door of EU membership has opened, we find it difficult to understand that in this process governments have the main burden, but the responsibility of the political class is shared. Meanwhile, the merit belongs only to the Albanian people, who have no hesitation about the European path.

Instead of speaking about chapters, boxes, gaps, measures, or describing the EU as a two-storey building, where on the first floor the Commission decides and on the second floor the member states decide, and not as its treaty provides, we need a real debate on how, through the exercise of this state-consolidating process, we will guarantee competition in public life; the integrity of political life; how we will fight the metastases of corruption and organised crime in public life and in critical sectors of the economy; how we will put an end to models of impunity; how we will build an administration based on merit and in the service of the public; how we will guarantee the autonomy of local elected officials, the decentralisation of competences and services to strengthen the cohesion of communities; when our schools will be centres of knowledge and part of European research networks; how we will slow the high pace of emigration and when we will speak about population growth; when our entrepreneurs will measure success on the basis of risk taken or innovation and not only through state budget tenders; when workers will feel rewarded for their contribution to economic development; when the sanctity of property will be guaranteed; how we will free competition in the economy for every lek that comes out of the state budget or every euro that comes from the EU, by implementing the rules of public procurement and fair competition; when we will guarantee the quality of the food we consume; when we will give capitalism a social face by increasing the base of well-being and distributing fairly the common resources and wealth; and when we will speak about an economy based on knowledge.

Naturally, the above list is not exhaustive. But it is an illustration of the fact that people’s expectations cannot be “fed” with chapters. In short, we must be able to connect progress on paper with everyday reality. The debate must focus on the protection of the interests of the Albanian economy and society, on the sectors that may have comparative advantage with other economies. All social groups must be included in this process. The debate must be about the quality and the speed of the EU accession process. About the standard of everyday life. About Albania’s affairs.

Ditmir Bushati is a former Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania and a long-time member of parliament. He has been closely involved in Albania’s European integration process over the past decade. This text was originally published on his official Facebook page.