Interview of Ambassador Luigi Soreca, Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Albania, with Armand Mero of the Voice of America

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Interview of Ambassador Luigi Soreca, Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Albania, with Armand Mero of the Voice of America

16.11.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to Albania

Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, the European Commission recently presented the annual reports for the aspiring countries and also approved a new Growth Plan that aims to accelerate the integration process. A few weeks ago, the high-level meeting of the Berlin Process was held in Tirana. There is clearly increased attention, more than ever in recent years, to the Western Balkans. But the process is a double dance. In your opinion, how prepared are the Balkan countries, and specifically Albania, to take advantage of this moment?Ambassador: First of all, thank you for having me today. You are right, there is an increased attention on enlargement and clearly this goes back to February 24, 2022, when Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine changed the geopolitical context in Europe and the European Union has realized the importance that the enlargement policy has in ensuring the security on our continent, prosperity and stability in the long term, because the Balkans are in the centre of the European Union and might be subject to third countries' influence. So this has brought a new dimension to enlargement. At the same time, enlargement is a very complex process, it takes time. How to accelerate the process? That's why, together with the country report, the European Commission has presented what we call the Growth Plan. The Growth Plan has a clear objective. There is a big gap at the economic and social level between Western Europe and South-eastern Europe, which impacts on the ability of the countries to move forward. So, the objective is to accelerate and fill in this gap by bringing forward some of the benefits that membership brings. And in order to do so, the Growth Plan identifies first, the possibility of the countries in the region to enter the single market of the EU, which means that the citizens can benefit from the single Euro payment area, better road transport, better digital transition well before EU accession. By opening their market to the EU, the WB6 should open their own market, the so-called Common Regional Market, in order to best benefit from the opening of the single market. The third pillar of the Growth Plan is the acceleration of the reforms, and I come to your point. It is important that in this period, 2024-2027, which is the period of the Growth Plan, the countries prepare a renewed agenda of reform and the negotiations between the EU and the Member States will start very soon in the next couple of weeks. There will be two core teams that will start looking into those reforms that need to be brought forward. To do what? To improve, for example, the business environment in order to benefit from the very important financial assistance that will come to Albania. We are talking about 6 billion Euros, 2 billion in grants and 4 billion in loans for the whole region. So, I come to the second part of your question: is Albania ready? Albania has had a very positive 2023. The screening has been a success. The European Commission is ready to move forward. So Albania has progressed from this point of view. But now is the time not to lose this opportunity. In the next four years, Albania has to accelerate the pace of reforms: strong political leadership, discipline and professionalism in the whole public administration would be very important. And hopefully at the end of this period, Albania will be in a position, together the other WB countries, to reap the benefits of this important effort from the EU.Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, despite the good will, it seems that the EU itself has not shaped a clear new path for the Balkan region. On the one hand, we have the President of the European Council who talks about a deadline, the year 2030, which seems to have been rejected by his colleagues. Germany has also presented a roadmap for integration. Meanwhile, France has put forward the idea of a Union with concentric circles. What is going on?Ambassador: I was reading yesterday the first writings by Jean Monnet. Jean Monnet used to say: "Europe will be forged in crisis, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises". We are not in a crisis, but we are in an evolution. Actually the crisis comes from the February 2022 dramatic events. And the EU now realizes that on the one side it needs to accelerate the enlargement, but on the other side needs to be ready to host in the house 10 more owners, proprietaires of apartments in this big building. But the rules of the game need to be looked at again and that's why this process that I think has started already a few months ago, with several proposals, and I can tell you that there is a lot of debates in Brussels on how to make sure that the Union can become stronger with this new wave of enlargement. There is a need to look at many, many rules. Working at 27 is not the same as working at 35 or 37, with the implications that it has. So, I would look at this moment as a positive one in the long termthat will prepare the European Union, hopefully at the end of this period, to host the new members of the house.Journalist: Ambassador Soreca, the European Commission recommends the opening at the end of the year of talks on the first cluster, which include the most important issues. However, the decision belongs to the European Council. And past experiences have proven that the will of the Commission does not always match that of the Member States, due to bilateral issues that any of them may have with an aspirant country. It is enough to recall here the long blockade of Greece against Skopje, then that of Bulgaria against North Macedonia. Now, Greece has publicly announced the conditioning of Albania's path due to the Beleri case. Don't such situations destroy all promises to speed up the process?Ambassador: I think it is important here to say that the Country Report issued by the Commission has clearly identified the objective of opening the first cluster, the so-called fundamentals, chapters 23 and 24, with Albania by the end of the year. And this is the objective on which the European Commission is working with the Member States. As you said, and rightly so, because this is the rule of the house, it is up to the Member States in the Council to decide. Discussions are taking place, different positions are being assessed. I think it's important now to have in mind the ultimate goal, which to make sure that the work that has been done so far is going to be rewarded. On the specific issue I will not go into details, clearly, but our hope is that a solution can be found rapidly in full respect of the rule of law.Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, let's focus now on developments in Albania. The report of the Commission states that the supervision of the executive by the parliament remains limited. During the year, but also now, we have had several requests from the opposition for investigation committees, which have been rejected, either with the justification that the law will be changed or with the interpretation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court. How could the supervision of the executive be done when the mechanism to do so is not considered by a majority that has been in power for over 10 years?Ambassador: On this point, I think it is important to recall, and I go back to the Country Report just issued by the Commission, that democratic criteria are as important as political criteria and reforms. So, for us, the functioning of democratic institutions is at the core of the EU integration process, and the report clearly identified the polarisation that at this moment is happening, it's hampering the ability of the parliament to perform their function, including holding the government accountable. I think it's very much time now for the political forces to understand that, as we were saying before, we are at a critical juncture of the future of the region and of the country. And inviting them to overcome these divisions, exactly by putting at the core of any possible work together for EU integration. 91% of Albanians support EU integration. EU integration is a cross-party objective and our wish is that this could become the starting point to overcome this division, to make sure that this moment is not lost because of this polarisation.Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, the report states that corruption remains a serious concern and that it is widespread at all levels. But on the other hand, there is the government, which repeats that it has undertaken and is still undertaking reforms to fight this phenomenon. However, the EU assessment has remained unchanged over the years. So it seems that the efforts made thus far have not been enough.Ambassador: When I look at this phenomenon, the serious phenomenon of corruption, with my experience I always try to look at the long term. Now, get a helicopter and look at the long term. Look at the justice reform. When I arrived in 2018, we were very much at the core of its implementation. And I want to give you an anecdote. When I arrived again in September this year, at Rinas airport, I watched at the screen on TV and I saw a little news saying that the 18th and 19th members of the High Court were appointed. And the day after I was looking for some newspapers reporting about it and actually it went almost unnoticed. I remember in my time, when the appointment of the sixth, of the seventh, of the eighth judge was seen as a big achievement. Now this normality, which is exactly how it should be, tells us how progress has been made. This is only an anecdote to tell you that if you look in a longer period, progress has been made. Is it enough? Absolutely not. Corruption is still present, it is a serious concern for us, as said in the report, and it needs to be tackled seriously, including the high-level cases of corruption. Now SPAK has made certainly progress and this is welcomed in the report, including by addressing high-level cases of corruption and we support these actions. We invite SPAK and all justice authorities to continue to work in this direction to make a solid track record to fight the culture of impunity without political pressure and without interference. And the justice authorities will certainly have the EU on their side. I also think that financial investigation should continue to be one of the objectives of the action of the justice authorities, because that has proved to be the way forward. I've been using the words "Follow the money" because this comes from previous experience, but I think it is very important that this process is sustainable and continues in the longer term.Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, the report includes an evaluation of SPAK activity. However, part of the opposition is accusing this body of being under the control of the Prime Minister and acting on his behalf and these accusations have strengthened after the accusations against former Prime Minister Berisha. You have been in Albania for a long time and practically during the shaping period of this structure. What is your assessment?Ambassador: As I said before, I consider that SPAK is implementing its mandate and it is doing so by looking into the high-level cases of corruption. We also had the first high-level convictions recently, of former ministers. I think it is important that the work continues thoroughly, with a clear direction, so that the Albanian citizens will understand that the quite serious reform that has been done since 2016 in the justice area is really bringing results.Journalist: And one last question, related to the issue of the IPARD II program. In a response to the Voice of America, the Delegation states that the report has been submitted to the Albanian authorities and that it expects them to take this issue very seriously. In light of the suspension of IPARD implementation, what realistic expectations do you have for the response that the Albanian part is supposed to provide you?Ambassador: You know that the European Commission has received the report from OLAF, has assessed it it and then has transmitted its request to the Albanian authorities, asking the Albanian authories to take actions by the end of the year. So on this basis, the European Commission will assess what are the next steps. In the meantime, however, in order to protect the financial interests of the European Union, as you know, the payment under IPARD II and the entrustment for IPARD III have been put on hold. And why so? Because we are talking of EU taxpayers' money, and that's why we want this issue to be taken very seriously. We expect, therefore, the Albanian Government to act very seriously on addressing the requests of the Commission, so that if their replies are satisfactory, we could restart this very important programme that has produced concrete benefits for the Albanian citizens and to help one of the most important areas of the economy of Albania: agriculture. We know how important it is, so the ultimate goal is to fix this problem in a way that can satisfy the request of the Commission and restart the program for the benefit of the Albanian agriculture.Journalist: One more question, Mr. Ambassador, this is your last interview. How do you evaluate your mandate and your return after months in Albania, which was quite intense?Ambassador: It was very intense. I was talking to my colleagues and we saw that there were ten weeks, looking like ten months, looking at the amount of things and events that have taken place: four ministerial under the Berlin Process, the Summit of the Berlin Process, the finalisation of the Progress Report, a number of other important dossiers that I had to look at very carefully. I am privileged and honoured to have been requested to come back. Another anecdote: I was in Brussels on Monday. And I was there for the finalisation of the report and I came back to Albania, and while I was presenting my passport to the police guard at the airport, he addressed me in Albanian, saying: "Ambassador, welcome home". I think that this is for me, at personal level, apart from the professional level, the recognition that what I feel, the important bond with the Albanian people and with the country is really taking concrete shape. Albania is part of my life, will be a part of my life and I always thank the Albanian people for the attention and the affection they have shown to me in these two mandates.

So, as you mentioned, this is my last interview, actually the last hours in Tirana. I am going back to my work to Brussels as the EU Special Envoy on Migration. A new ambassador has been nominated and will arrive in Albania most likely already in December.

Journalist: Ambassador, thank you very much!Ambassador: You are welcome, thank you very much and goodbye.