The European Commission's report on Albania highlights limited progress in several key areas of negotiations, while food safety, consumer protection and corruption continue to pose challenges for the country.
Invited to the show "Alert” IN News24Ermelinda Muçaj, project officer at EMA, said that Albania is at an important stage of the European integration process, but the objective of concluding negotiations in 2027 requires acceleration of reforms and concrete results.
According to her, this year's report is among the most positive compared to previous years, but this does not mean that Albania has secured the necessary pace to conclude the negotiations within the target deadline.
"We are at a very important stage. We need to have progress and a very good level of preparation, in order to conclude the negotiations in 2027," said Muçaj.
One of the identified problems is related to consumer protection, where despite the adoption of the new law and the provision for the establishment of a Consumer Protection Agency, the results remain insufficient. The Consumer Protection Commission is functional and complaints are addressed, but the European Commission notes a lack of transparency in the way they are handled.
Muçaj stressed that chapter 28, which includes consumer protection and public health, has the lowest level of preparation compared to the 33 chapters assessed by the European Commission.
Another sector where intervention is required is tourism. According to Muçaj, a significant portion of the complaints filed through the "Green Line" platform are related to this sector, indicating that consumer protection is not yet at the proper level.
Public health also remains a concern, with 2.7% of Gross Domestic Product going to this sector, but citizens continue to face high out-of-pocket expenses for health services.
Another critical point in this sector is corruption, which according to Muçaj is directly related to Chapter 1, that of the free movement of goods. This chapter has not made any progress this year, while control, audit and transparency remain issues that require special attention.
"The control part should be discussed the most, but also that of auditing and transparency. Corruption is directly related to this chapter," stressed Muçaj.
The European Commission report shows that the main challenge remains the transition from the adoption of laws to their implementation in practice. Meeting the 2027 target will depend on the ability of institutions to produce measurable results, especially in sectors where citizens directly face the consequences of the lack of control and transparency.
