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Building on Core Strengths: Lessons from Justice Sector Reform in Albania

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Solidarity and Rule of Law

Part of the book series: European Union and its Neighbours in a Globalized World ((EUNGW,volume 9))

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Abstract

Kick-started by a unanimous decision by parliament in 2016, rule of law reform in Albania is the first radical attempt in the Western Balkans at cleansing the justice system from corrupt and incompetent elements, burdensome procedures and other dysfunctionalities. While not discarding the ‘problem-solving method’ that defines the EU’s approach and that of many other international donors to transition processes in the region, it is by applying an ‘appreciative inquiry’ method to the findings gathered from extensive field research carried out in the ALBE project that this contribution identifies and assesses the features of the country’s new structures and institutions that belong to the ‘positive core’ of justice sector reform: vision, values, key competences, basic infrastructure, embedded knowledge, learning processes, organisational achievements, technical and financial assets and resources, facilitating macro trends, and the solidarity of partners. In a constructive, yet critical way, this chapter shapes up those (f)actors that help drive rule of law reform in the six countries of the Western Balkans (WB6) forward. It finds that, in order to be resilient enough to resist the kind of capture witnessed in some member states that have joined the EU since 2004, justice sector institutions in the WB6 should closely observe Albania’s ongoing reform efforts at earning ‘throughput legitimacy’ and make sure that they are well governed, plan for the long term, take account of the availability of local resources, and carry out regular risk-management exercises.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2012–2013 (2012).

  2. 2.

    Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2020 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy (2020).

  3. 3.

    General Affairs Council, doc. 10555/18 (26 June 2018).

  4. 4.

    Frontloading Conditionality: The EU Council Track Record Table for Albania. https://cdinstitute.eu/2020/04/21/frontloading-conditionality-the-eu-council-track-record-table-for-albania/.

  5. 5.

    See Fouéré (2019).

  6. 6.

    For a critical reflection, see Fouéré (2021).

  7. 7.

    The Commission’s regular report of October 2020 notes that 35% of the EUR 98 million available for the implementation of the justice strategy is derived from international donors, in particular the EU.

  8. 8.

    Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2021 Rule of Law Report. The Rule of Law Situation in the European Union (2021).

  9. 9.

    ALBE—Preparing and Supporting Albania for EU Accession Process, is an initiative implemented from 2018 to 2020 by Cooperation and Development Institute and supported by Dutch Embassy in Tirana. It focused on the inter-connectedness between enlargement and reforms. Other related research include: (i) EU Enlargement in SEE6 and Country Reforms: The Justice Reform in Albania as a Case Study; (ii) Frontloading Conditionality: The EU Council Track Record Table for Albania; and (iii) EU Candidate Country Reforms and the New Enlargement Methodology: Searching For a Roadmap, and; (iv) Good Governance of New Justice Institutions in Albania.

  10. 10.

    A comprehensive overview of the reasons causing delays in the set-up and initial phase of operation of the new justice institutions is presented in Skendaj et al. (2019).

  11. 11.

    For a comprehensive view of main challenges that freshly established justice institutions faced, see Hackaj (2020).

  12. 12.

    The complaints of Member States were more about the capture of new democratic institutions, their representativeness or their accountability than about their deliverables. In concrete terms, while the Commission was OK-ing the deliverables of the reformed institutional framework, Member States were questioning their democratic legitimacy, as translated by Bundestag conditions. For an analysis of the shift of Member State conditionality towards democratic legitimacy and rule of law, see https://cdinstitute.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FRONTLOADING-CONDITIONALITY_THE-EU-COUNCIL-TRACK-RECORD-TABLE-FOR-ALBANIA.pdf.

  13. 13.

    Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Enhancing the accession process - A credible EU perspective for the Western Balkans (2020). The NEM also made obligatory a roadmap for the Chapter on rule of law and on institutions, a scope dramatically larger than the ongoing public administration reform. By deciding that the cluster of ‘fundamentals’ be opened first and closed last, the Commission underlined the systemic importance that democratic legitimacy of WB6 institutions has for the EU.

  14. 14.

    See, e.g., Cooperrider et al. (2008).

  15. 15.

    Schmidt (2013).

  16. 16.

    See also Boerzel et al. (2008).

  17. 17.

    A situation is called ‘Pareto improvement’ when after an induced change some agents win and no agent loses.

  18. 18.

    See, e.g., Myckaj (2020).

  19. 19.

    See, e.g., Vurmo (2020).

  20. 20.

    A temporary Justice Appointment Council was foreseen in case it was impossible to set up the ‘real’ JAC in time. However due to missing political will and the failure to vet many candidates, the temporary JAC did not start functioning properly until 2018.

  21. 21.

    JAC Annual Report 2019.

  22. 22.

    Quotation from Round Table ‘Making New Justice Reform Institutions Resilient’, organised by CDI with representatives of new justice institutions, in the framework of ALBE project, Tirana, 24 November 2020.

  23. 23.

    The total positive perception of SPOACOC remains within the statistical error margin, shifting from 88.7% in 2019 to 86.4% in 2020: for the Courts it remains virtually inchanged, from 91.81% to 91.2%. See Dyrmishi (2021), graph. 68 and 69.

  24. 24.

    Albania Financial Assistance under IPA II, at EU Commission, DG NEAR, extracted from: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/instruments/funding-by-country/albania_en.

  25. 25.

    For example, to improve citizens’ access to (and the workload of) the Constitutional Court, standard application forms, similar to those used by the European Court of Human Rights, could be drawn up. That would make it easier for citizens to submit a case despite lacking legal knowledge. Another instrument would be to strengthen the capacities of the bar association for submission of applications before the CC or other courts.

References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEPS, Brussels, Belgium

    Steven Blockmans

  2. College of Europe (Bruges and Natolin), Bruges, Belgium

    Steven Blockmans

  3. European Foreign Affairs Review, Brussels, Belgium

    Steven Blockmans

  4. Tirana Connectivity Forum, Tirana, Albania

    Ardian Hackaj

  5. Director of Research, Cooperation and Development Institute, Tirana, Albania

    Ardian Hackaj

Authors
  1. Steven Blockmans
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  2. Ardian Hackaj
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ardian Hackaj .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Legal Sciences (School of Law), University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

    Teresa Russo

  2. Department of Legal Sciences (School of Law), University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

    Anna Oriolo

  3. Department of Legal Sciences (School of Law), University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

    Gaspare Dalia

Appendices

Annex 1. Guiding Questions for Semi-Structured Interviews

General

  • What has worked well in the justice sector reform process?

  • Which positive macro trends can be discerned?

Reform partners

  • Which mix of domestic (and external) stakeholders is key to ensure success? How do these stakeholders complement and reinforce each other? Which values should they represent?

  • How to involve key political constituencies and rally them behind the same flag so as to create champions of reform?

Design

  • What strengths did the vision of justice reform, and its formulation, encompass?

  • What are the benefits of a top-down and a bottom-up approach to reform?

  • Does it make sense to design a Plan B? If so, which are the variables that could facilitate compromise without detracting from the overall goal?

  • Which alternatives exist to the cascade methodology and the sequential triggering system (need to close one step in order to advance to the next)? Do these alternative methods enhance efficiency and sustainability to reform? Do they lessen the reliance on external assistance?

Implementation

  • Which basic infrastructure and knowledge could be relied upon?

  • Which learning processes were put in place to guide the reform process?

  • Were organisational achievements marked/’celebrated’ and, if so, how?

  • Which technical and financial assets and resources were essential in following through with the implementation process?

Annex 2. Interviews

  • Mr. Arben KRAJA, Head of SPOACOC

  • Ms. Naureda LLAGAMI, Head of HJC

  • Mr. Gent IBRAHIMI, Head of HPC

  • Ms. Marsida XHAFERLLARI, Member of Constitutional Court

  • Ms. Adea PIRDENI, Deputy Minister of Justice

  • Ms. Rudina HAJDARI, Chair of Parliamentary Committee on EU Integration

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Blockmans, S., Hackaj, A. (2023). Building on Core Strengths: Lessons from Justice Sector Reform in Albania. In: Russo, T., Oriolo, A., Dalia, G. (eds) Solidarity and Rule of Law. European Union and its Neighbours in a Globalized World, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29227-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29227-9_13

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-29227-9

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