According to a new European Commission report, Western Balkan countries, including Albania, must step up their efforts in managing migration and asylum and fighting corruption and organized crime.
The report, presented by Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson looked at countries which currently benefit from a visa-free regime with the European Union including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.
“Visa-free travel between the EU and the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries is a significant achievement. While restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on mobility, visa-free countries in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership must continue and step up their efforts in managing migration and asylum and in fighting corruption and organized crime.”
The report found that Albania did take action in the areas of border and migration management and asylum. The country adopted a new border management strategy and a new law on asylum within the last 12 months in an effort to bring the country closer to the EU acquis. It stated that the Member States reported good cooperation with Albanian in terms of migration and readmission.
It noted that Albania had taken some action to address the recommendations of the previous report, but that further action is needed, particularly in the case of unfounded asylum applications, money laundering, corruption, and organized crime.
The report also said that the government must step up it participation in the activities of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats, including information campaigns on the visa-free regime to relevant migrant profiles, vulnerable groups, overstays, and unfounded asylum claims.
Another priority is strengthening the fight against corruption and organized crime, illicit trafficking, terrorist offenses, and money laundering. This includes establishing a “solid track record of corruption cases, seizure, confiscation, and recovery of criminal assets resulting from corruption-related offenses” and increasing investigations and participating in cross-border investigations and prosecutions.
Albania has also been informed it must “refrain from adopting an investor citizenship scheme based on the new Law on Citizenship.” In 2019, Exit revealed that Albania planned to sell citizenship using EU candidacy as a selling point.
The news came after covert footage from a Henley and Partners event in London showing a speech by Prime Minister Edi Rama was leaked to Exit. Rama explained he would be launching the plan, despite knowing that the EU and EC would be against it. Following the outcry, the plan appears to have been shelved.
