Maybe it is uncomfortable to realise that Ukraine is behind this Adriatic country on European integration issue, but it is an undeniable fact. Since December 2010 Albanian citizens have been travelling to Schengen countries without visas. Without any jealousy we should carefully look at the “visa-free” experience of Albania. It revealed a number of problems, typical for some “young democracies”, which, obviously, won’t avoid Ukraine. Thus, problems and challenges facing the countries with weak democratic traditions in the process of visa liberalisation are in the research of Albanian independent analysts Gledis Gjipali and Blerta Hoxha.
Gledis Gjipali, Blerta Hoxha, European movement in Albania, Tirana
Two years of a well-structured process:on the approach of the European Commission and that of the Albanian government.
Albania’s main lesson learned: the visa liberalisation will have the systematic and positive consequences for the entire society only if it contributes to the introduction of better governance practices and brings positive pressure on the government by the society with the aim to increase governmental accountability.
Following the introduction of the Roadmap of the European Commission to the Western Balkan countries, the governments of these countries were asked to makecomments and submit their assessment reports on the situation in the country regardingthe standards set forth in the Roadmap. In some countries the assessment reports werediscussed in the parliament and were made known to the public before theirsubmission to Brussels, while in others countries, including Albania, the governmentspreferred not to make public or to include in the process other institutions outside theexecutive and the Parliament.
On the other hand, the European Commissionanswered each country through the assessment reports, which were discussed at the EUCouncil on Western Balkans COWEB.The evaluation reports highlighted various stages of the Western Balkan countries. Atthat time, the most advanced country in such process was Macedonia, followed bySerbia and Montenegro. After various exchanges of reports and assessments from theparties in July of 2009, the European Commission proposed to the Council of EU thelifting of the visa regime with Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania. Meanwhile,Kosovo was included in the Schengen negative list.
In November 2009, the Council of Ministers of the EU decided to lift the visa regime with the three countries mentioned above. Such decision came to power on 19 December 2009. Concerning Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina who had not yet fully met the benchmarks, the European Commission continued to monitor the performance through the expert missions throughout the year 2010.
Looking closely to the benchmarks embedded in the Roadmap, it is immediately evident that overall this is a document dealing with major important fields of the country’s democratization process. More specifically, it foresaw the design and implementation of strategies and concrete reforms to mark improvements in problematic issues such as public order and security, the fight against corruption, organized crime and illegal trafficking, the security of identification documents with biometric data, the integrated border management, illegal migration, as well as external relations and fundamental rights.
Concerning the efforts of Albania to meet the benchmarks embedded in the Roadmap, the approach of Albanian institutions did not differ significantly from the usual tradition of policy-making in the country.
The process was characterized by a general underestimation of the element of transparency and publicity of documents and phases of the process. In the neighboring countries such as Macedonia, various institutions publicly commented on assessment reports. In Albania, the information of the public opinion or of nongovernmental actors on the different stages of the process or the content of documents exchanged between the government and the Commission was generally avoided.
Progress has generally been commented from different political exponents pushed from political purposes, rather than from the aim of objective information of the public opinion, especially during the elections’ campaign of June 2009.
As a western diplomat, rightly pointed out, “the Albanian politicians have massively speculated with the issue of the visa liberalization. It has become the toy of the politicians”1. Thus, the citizens have not been completely clear on the reforms carried out by our country.
Another aspect closely related to the information about the progress of the country in the process, concerns the approach of the Albanian government regarding the inclusion of non-state actors in the design and implementation of reforms and strategies.
Exactly the work of several years to achieve higher standards in important fields serving to the country’s democratization such as the fight against corruption, organized crime or trafficking makes the involvement of the non-governmental actors necessary in the development and implementation of reforms and strategies in the areas mentioned above.
Inclusion of non-state actors in the VLP process in Albania has been limited and mainly concerned NGO-s operating the human rights sector whose cooperation was indispensable (e.g. in the fight against human trafficking, integration of marginalized individuals, etc.).
The very fact that the state authorities interviewed bring across a single example of civil society involvement in this process, and in particular its contribution to the drafting of the anti-discrimination law, adopted in early 2010, proves that consultations have been relatively limited. However, limited involvement of non-state actors in the process cannot simply be interpreted as an exclusion from the policy-making process concerning visa liberalisation. Instead, it can be considered as a continuation of the "top-down" tradition of policy-making in Albania.
Another reason limiting the involvement of non-governmental actors is associated with the pace at which the Albanian institutions are coping with different stages of the visa liberalization process. Many of the decisions were taken under time pressure, neglecting the required timeframe that would allow for extensive consultation in a democratic society.
The meetings held by several ministries with civil society representatives have been mainly characterized by formal nature. Often, they were held in the last moments preceding the Commission expert’s visits and thus playing an ineffective consulting role. However, it should be highlighted that although the inclusion of more actors in the design and implementation of strategies and reforms in the visa liberalization process would have made this process more democratic, it would not necessarily have accelerated it. This is because more consultations would also mean more procedures.
Based on a retrospective of the visa liberalization process since its beginnings in spring 2008, it seems clear that despite the EU encouragement to achieve certain standards, the Albanian government has somehow slowly coped with the work required to achieve visa free regime. It seems that only the “shock of the separation from the group” of the Western Balkan countries in July 2009, shook the Albanian society, as they might not be walking at a proper pace. In addition, it has set in motion the Albanian institutions to collaborate. That is how the new energy of the Albanian institutions in order to fulfill the requirements embedded in the Roadmap starting with a new speed from the September 2009 and on may be explained.
However, besides a first apathetic approach towards the achievement of the required benchmarks in comparison to neighboring countries such as Serbia or Montenegro, Albania faced some objective difficulties that slowed down its performance in this regard.
More specifically, along with the occasional lack of political will in any reform challenge, Albania faced limited administrative capacities. “I am sure that the visa liberalization could be managed much better. However, for a better management is required a greater capacity including more trainings, more resources and more financial resource” confirmed a western diplomat in Tirana.2
Albanian institutions have not been reluctant to respond to the Roadmap benchmarks with strategies and different action plans. Certainly, the documents at the stage of completion of the legal framework have not been missing. However, there has not always existed a proper budget or detailed information for the implementation of a specific plan. Often there is a lack of coordination and coherence between different strategies.
In a way, the lack of a clear vision of how to translate something described in paper into action has penalized Albania in her attempt to attain specific standards in a well defined and limited time. Moreover, the Albanian tradition of policy-making deals with the consolidation of practice in doing things in a way that is rushed, superficial and sometimes driven by short-term commitments, usually originating by international pressure.
All these factors explain why EU institutions insisted in a convincing record of accomplishments from Albania in meeting the benchmarks embedded in the Roadmap.
However, during 2010, a significant mobilization of Albanian institutions to accelerate the implementation of laws and other measures was noticed. This was translated into significant steps towards meeting the benchmarks to lift the visa regime.
Apart from that, it is also worth mentioning an evident inter-institutional solidarity to cooperate, considering visa liberalization process as a priority for the nation. From the institutional interaction point of view, it was expected a more active role to be played by the institutions that exercise control over the other ones. For instance, the Albanian Assembly should have been more active in monitoring the work of institutions that report to it concerning the visa liberalization process.
At the level of political commitment, it must be noted the approval in a wide consensual manner of the Resolution of the Albanian Assembly on March 11, 2010 supporting the Visa Liberalization process. In addition, on November 12, 2009, the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers issued a joint declaration that reconfirmed the political will to lift the visa regime in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina when the European Commission would have judged that the benchmarks were met and that the issue was to be urgently addressed.3
All along the visa liberalization process, the European Parliament has been supportive and proactive in encouraging both the EU Council of Ministers and Western Balkan countries to complete this process as soon as possible.
The continuous efforts of the Albanian authorities to meet the benchmarks embedded in the Roadmap were rewarded at different stages of the process, notably following reporting from institutions and positive assessments of experts at the end of the several field missions organized. In May 2010, the Commission issues a Proposal to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers to lift the visa regime with Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, provided that the outstanding benchmarks would be met.
More concretely, in the case of Albania they concerned: The development of a strategy and policy to support the reintegration of Albanian returnees; Strengthening of capacities of law enforcement and effective implementation of the legal framework for the fight against organized crime and corruption, including through the allocation of adequate human and financial resources; and the Effective implementation of the legal framework in the area of the confiscation of organized crime assets.
The Albanian government was given a few months (the summer of 2010) to fulfil the outstanding benchmarks. Following the concrete measures taken, it provided a detailed report at the end of June 2010. Later in July, the Commission services organized a final technical mission composed of experts partly seconded from EU Member States. As a follow-up of the missions, further information was submitted by Albanian authorities in early September 2010.
On 7 October 2010, the European Parliament voted largely pro visa liberalisation with Albania and BiH. Despite some rumours on concerns raised by Member States, in particular France on possible migration flows following visa liberalisation, the co-decision procedure was completed by a unanimous vote of Council of Ministers of EU in favour of the abolishment of the visa regime in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina on 8 November 2010.
In exchange, Member States were assured by the European Commission of continuous post visa-liberalisation monitoring of the situation and even on a control mechanism that would eventually allow the reintroduction of the visa regime in case a Member State is faced with a situation of significant migration flow from one of the five countries of the Western Balkans that benefited visa-liberalisation4. The decision to lift the visa regime with Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina entered into force on 15 December 2010 (one day after the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union).
Lessons learned
In two years, the Visa Liberalisation Process has certainly impacted in many ways the relation between EU institutions and Albanian state institutions, non-governmental actors and public opinion at large. By introducing concrete conditionality of reforms, it has pushed state authorities to change the attitude that “benefits from internationals will be granted on the rhetoric that some work is being carried out” into a more results-oriented attitude. Indeed, two years of intensive reform measures being demanded, have often pushed authorities to speed up the policy-making and decision-making process, both in terms of legislative initiatives and in terms of operational actions under the justification “it’s for the visas”.
However, EU institutions, but also other actors, should carefully reflect on the implications that making important reforms in record short time can have in country with a strong top-down tradition of policy-making. Despite having resulted in a considerable amount of pieces of legislation and/or strategies adopted, because of the “rush” way it has been dealt with, it cannot be concluded that the visa liberalization process has contributed to making the Albanian decision-making process more democratic and pluralistic, nor legislation content more qualitative and applicable.
On a more positive note, the visa liberalization process has contributed to the strengthening of direct relations between civil society actors present in the country and EU experts and institutions. In fact, during each field mission, experts have also held meetings with NGOs working in relevant fields of reform. This experience should be seized by the later to build more solid and direct communication channels with the EU in the future. Civil society organizations operating in Albania certainly have an important input to give in the integration process, both by being consulted and involved in policy-making by the government and by reporting to and/or lobbying EU institutions.
Now that visa liberalisation has entered into force, the Albanian society should assume an ever realistic view and responsible attitude towards the benefits and conditions deriving from the lifting of the visa regime.
Leaving behind earlier speculations and ambiguities on the level of freedom of movement in the Schengen areas, citizens should be aware that with the visa-free regime, some conditions apply and competencies that were earlier covered by the consular services will be transferred to the borders checkpoints of Schengen countries.
Commitment from state and non state actors to inform citizens and take all measures to make things run smoothly, transforming visa liberalisation in a success story in the eyes of EU public opinions should be maximal. This not only to put an end to fears and concerns in some EU Member States, but also due to the importance that this step carries for the Albanian society.
The completion of the visa liberalisation process should be seized as an opportunity to mark the end of an everlasting severe isolation, frustration and sense of abandonment by EU institutions of Albanian citizens. It should mark the beginning of a dignified treatment when travelling to the Schengen area as well as a portal for the development of Albanian society. Through increased contacts and exchanges with western societies, this concrete step towards the EU must become the key not only to introduce new (best) practices of doing things in the country, but also an increased pressure by the society towards the government to improve its performance and increase accountability.
Key points & Recommendations
• By introducing concrete conditionality, VLP has pushed state authorities to gain a results’ oriented approach rather than stick to mere commitments on paper.
The VLP has contributed to the strengthening of direct relations between EU institutions and civil society in Albania. This experience should be intensified in other steps of the integration process.
• However, EU institutions, but also other actors should carefully reflect on the consequences that making important reforms in a short time in a country with strong tradition of "top- down" policy-making may bear. More concretely, the quantity-quality relationship of legislation and reforms should be carefully weighed.
• Completion of the VLP will certainly be the end of a severe and prolonged isolation. It will mark the starting of a dignified treatment when travelling to European countries, and a genuine window of development for the Albania society.
• Through increased contacts and exchanges with European societies, this concrete step towards EU should serve to introduce successful practices, but also to promote the positive pressure from society on the government to increase accountability and improve its performance.
• State authorities should not only intensify the implementation of reforms and legal framework, but continue informing the individuals and monitoring measures for a better-management of post-liberalization situation, collaborating closely with the Commission.
• State and non-state stakeholders should maximize efforts to make visa liberalization a success story. This step is not only important to the dignity and comfort of individuals, but also at a larger scale, to constitute an example of good performance of national institutions and improve our image in the Member States, from which in future will depend (via national referenda) the decision on Albania’s accession to the EU.
1 Interview with a western diplomat in Tirana, 10 February 2010.
2 Interview with a western diplomat, 8 February 2010.
3 See the website of European Stability initiative: http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=403
4 These measures were significantly inspired by the situation of increased number asylum seekers from Macedonia and Serbia flowing to MS, in particular Belgium after visa liberalization with these countries in December 2009.
