The EU Ambassador to Albania, Luigi Soreca has stated that media freedom is the only area in which Albania has made no progress during the last year
On Thursday, during the meeting of Albania’s National Council for European Integration, Soreca referred to the recently published European Council’s progress report on Albania, based on which he noted a complete lack of progress in the area of freedom of expression.
“About Freedom of expression. This is the only area of the report where we have seen no progress in the past year,” Soreca stated in his assessment of the report.
“The amendments fall short of international standards and principles of media freedom and raise concerns about increased censorship and self-censorship, and about possible setbacks on freedom of expression in the country. The report also highlights intimidation against journalists and the use of force by the police on journalists doing their work,” the ambassador noted in his speech.
Soreca made a summary of the report, pointing out the progress areas, the conditions met by Albania before the start of the first Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC), partial progress, and failures.
In the ambassador’s reading of the report, “Albania is now close to meeting all conditions” set by the European Council, the existence of which Prime Minister Edi Rama has denied.
