ALBANIA ROAD MAP TO EUROPEAN INTEGRATION Regional Conference on

1. ALBANIA ROAD MAP TO EUROPEAN INTEGRATION Regional Conference on “EU PERSPECTIVE AND CURRENT STANDING OF THE COUNTRIES IN THE REGION IN THE SAP” Belgrade, 7-8th December 2005

2. ALBANIA RELATIONS WITH EU • 1992: Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the EU and Albania. Albania becomes eligible for funding under the EU Phare programme. • 1999: The EU proposes the new Stabilisation and Association process for five SEE countries, including Albania. • 1999: Albania benefits from Autonomous Trade Preferences with the EU. • 2001: The Commission recommends the undertaking of negotiations on SAA with Albania. • 2003: On 31 January, Commission President Prodi officially launches the negotiations for a SAA between the EU and Albania. • 2004 (June): Council decision on the principles of a European Partnership for Albania

3. CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS • Trade, Commercial and Economic Co-operation Agreement, signed in May 1992 and entered into force on 1 December 1992. • On the occasion of the signature of the Trade, Commercial and Economic Co-operation Agreement, a Joint EC/Albania Political Declaration was also signed. • Negotiations for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) started on 31 January 2003 and are ongoing. • The EC/Albania readmission Agreement was negotiated during 2003 and initialled on 18 December of that year. The Agreement was signed in Luxembourg on 14 April 2005.

4. INSTITUTIONS SET UP UNDER THE SAP • EU/Albania Joint Committee • Working Parties in the areas of economy and finance, agriculture and fisheries, infrastructure, customs and taxation, reform and approximation of legislation • EU/Albania Consultative Task Force

5. EUROPEAN PARTNERSHIP In June 2004 the European Council adopted a European Partnership for Albania which: • identifies short and medium term priorities which Albania should address, • serves as a checklist against which to measure progress, • provides guidance for assistance under the CARDS programme.

6. ALBANIAN RESPONSE TO EP • In September 2004 Albania responded to the European Partnership by producing a national Action Plan with a timetable and details of how it intends to address the European Partnership’s priorities. • Progress in implementing these priorities is monitored regularly by the European Commission • Overall, Albania has made some progress in implementing the European Partnership’s short- term priorities, mainly in the adoption of new legislation and in the formulation of action plans.

7. NATIONAL PLAN FOR THE APPROXIMATION OF LEGISLATION AND SAA IMPLEMENTATION NPAL-SAA covers all the issues raised from the starting of the SAp until May 2005 in the following context: • Thessaloniki Agenda for the Western Balkans of June 2003 • European Partnership • Recommendations made by the Commission in the last SAp Report and on the occasion CTF, Working Party, Joint Committee meetings • Draft SAA and negotiation positions expressed by the Parties • Anticipation of requirements to be laid down in the Interim Agreement on trade and trade related matters.

8. STRUCTURE OF THE NPAL-SAA The overall structure of the NPAL-SAA reflects the outline of the last European Partnership. It consists of 3 Parts: • Political situation • Economic situation • European standards

9. PERIOD COVERED To be consistent with the Draft SAA, the Plan covers a period of 10 years The time frame is organised as follows: • Short term: years 2005-2006 • Medium term: years 2007-2008 • Long term: years 2009-2014.

10. UPDATING NPAL-SAA • State Budget. • Annual Review. • Regular Reports by the European Commission on the Stabilisation and Association Process. • The second European Partnershipwith Albania.

11. LAW APPROXIMATION Draft SAA contains two categories of provisions on approximation: • The horizontal provisions contained in the Title VI named “Approximation of laws, law enforcement and Competition rules” and other relevant chapters such as “General Principles” which can be qualified as lex generalis; • Vertical rules scattered in the various provisions named “Co-operation policies” which can be qualified as lex specialis.

12. SAA-LAW APPROXIMATION According to the Draft SAA approximation has to undergo two phases: • starting from the date of the signing of the agreement the first stage of the approximation will be focused on the main elements of the acquis of the internal market as well as on other important areas such as competition, intellectual industrial and commercial property rights, public procurements, standards and certification, financial services, land and maritime transport - with special emphasize on safety and environmental standards as well as social aspects – company law, accounting, consumer protection, data protection, health and safety at work and equal opportunities; • during the second stage of the transitory period of the association, approximation will be extended to the remaining parts of acquis.

13. WORK FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF LEGISLATION • MoEI input has been in several special working groups focused on specific areas of law such as: intellectual and industrial property, free movement of capitals, competition and consumer protection, public procurement, social policy and action, standards and certification. • Many pieces of the domestic legislation in the fields of environment, agriculture, competition and state aid, intellectual and industrial property, consumer protection, public procurement, standards and certification for industrial productsare partly or fully aligned with acquis communautaire.

14. PREPARATORY WORK MoEI has completed a documentary package providing a vision for the approximation of legislation, which includes: • the professional translation of the White Paper • the methodology of approximation • glossary with legal terms regarding EU • the manual on the use of the community legislation; • the inventory of the Albanian legislation which is in force and which will be gradually aligned with the acquis.

15. INSTRUMENTS OF LAW APPROXIMATION MoEI has drafted a Decision on Instruments of approximation of the domestic legislation with the acquis communautaire. • line ministries and other central institutions are required, when preparing normative acts, to submit a Explanatory Memorandum and Table of Concordance of legislative provisions with the relevant EU provisions. • Both of these instruments and the draft proposals are to be forwarded to the Ministry of European Integration for verification and approval. • If a draft normative act has not been submitted together with both instruments, it will be returned to the expert body for revision and will not undergo further procedure.

16. Community Assistance • 1991 - 2004 community assistance to Albania has totalled about EUR 1.2 billion, of which about EUR 635 million was delivered through the Phare Programme. • The support provided through CARDS in 2005 is mainly focused on European Partnership Priorities, amounting to EUR 44.2 million. • Four main areas of support are: Democratic Stabilisation; Good Governance and institutional building; Economic and social development; Opening of Community Programmes.