BiEPAG’s Experts react: EC 2020 Progress Report on Albania

Many of us in Albania had very mixed feelings when reading the last EC report. Let me explain why.

If the executive summary of the report hypothetically were to read “this year, the wolves decided to spare the life of the sheep”, apparently, the wolves would be praised as heroes. Nevertheless, if one also considers the other finding (buried somewhere between pages 90 and 95) that “the wolves, however, tried every trick to hunt down every single sheep”, then it is clear that the sheep are the true heroes (for surviving the wolves’ hunt) and the wolves are, of course, “les mechants”.

Commission reports are increasingly seen as political and biased. To a large extent, the EC has helped to build such a perception by highlighting findings in its reports which will not make WB governments uncomfortable. Of course, one cannot accuse the EC of deception. After all, the problematic findings are usually stated in the report, although not in the highlights section. Such an approach, however, misleads the audience – whether specialised or not. Furthermore, it brings into question the credibility of the EC and its reports.

To illustrate with a few examples. The summary of the EC report for Albania notes “no progress” in relation to the freedom of expression and civil society during the reporting period. However, on page 33 the same report underlines that the counter-terrorism police (!?) arrested a 25 year old civil society activist and held her in custody for 4 days for sharing an article on her Facebook page; or that the police has beaten journalists and other civil society activists attending protests against the demolition of the national theater, and so on and so forth. These findings, combined with the fact that the Government of Albania misused the pandemic in open attack of (what’s left of Albanian) democracy, make one wonder why the freedom of expression in Albania has not declined according to the EC? Why has the defamation package which the EU itself opposed, and which is partially in force in Albania, not affected the freedom of expression systematically?

The EC report’s assessments are sometimes confusing, to say the least. As an example, take the 5 June agreement between ruling and opposition parties on electoral reform and the amendments to the electoral code adopted on 23 July. The EC argues that this implies that the condition for “consensual electoral reform”, set by the Council to open accession talks with Albania, has been met, regardless of the fact that on 5 October 2020 the ruling party adopted other amendments to the electoral code without a consensus with the opposition. It is unclear why the EC thinks that the non-consensual change of the rules on 5 October is unrelated to 5 June.

Here is another example. The EC truthfully reports that the Venice Commission issued an opinion on a dispute about the appointment procedure of one of the judges nominated in late 2019. However, the EC report neglects to mention that on the same dispute, the EU Delegation (hence the EC itself) wrongfully sided with the Government and supported the attempted illegal procedure. Why is this important, beyond its factualness? It is because the EU needs to build its credibility in the eyes of the people, and not to please WB autocrats.

The EU needs to ally with the ambition of WB citizens instead of praising the fake achievements of autocrats. If the EC reports pay lip service to the current autocracy…what will stop them from doing the same with the next autocrat?

Unfortunately, parts of the EC 2020 report for Albania seem like a Machiavellian report which sides with the ambition of daily politics in Albania but not with that of Albanian citizens. And just to be more explicit, Albanians’ ambition is not “EU membership at any cost today”. Rather, our ambition is “democracy and rule of law at any cost first… Once done with that, let’s talk about EU membership too”.

Gjergji Vurmo is the Programme Director of Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Tirana-based think tank.

This blog is originally published on biepag.eu.

EVENT: Closing the economic gap between the Western Balkans and the EU – what role for rule of law conditionality

Online Public Debate, 13th October, 11-12.30h

The Think for Europe Network (TEN) and the Clingendael Institute are looking ahead at the EU’s policies to support socio-economic development of the Western Balkans.

Beyond the immediate assistance the EU provided to the Western Balkans to tackle short-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU is committed to supporting long-term economic development of the Western Balkans through a variety of financial instruments. Given that the region’s economic convergence gap with the EU is widening, many challenges lie ahead before the Western Balkans and the EU, especially in making the best of its available funds dedicated towards this region.

Based on the negative experience with certain EU member states, it seems crucial to ensure that the awaited EU’s financial assistance supports good governance and democratic consolidation, instead of unintentionally producing opposite effects. In fact, European Commission’s country reports proposed a direct link between the functioning of the market economy and the enforcement of the rule of law. At the same time, the just released communication on Economic and Investment Plan pays considerable attention to good governance in the context of economic growth, thus putting additional pressure on EU aspirants to take the “EU fundamentals” more seriously.

This panel discussion will address the of rule of law conditionality in the context of the EU’s economic development assistance, the prospects for the region’s economic catch-up with the EU, as well as how the existing instruments can be embedded in the revised accession methodology and its principles of greater transparency, public scrutiny, and “more for more” approach.

Panellists:

-Allan Jones, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), European Commission
-Milena Lazarević, European Policy Centre (CEP), Belgrade
-Simonida Kacarska, European Policy Institute (EPI), Skopje
-Gjergji Vurmo, Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Tirana
-Wouter Zweers, Clingendael Institute, The Hague

Moderator: Sena Marić, CEP

We welcome your participation and your valuable contribution to this conference! We kindly ask you to confirm your attendance via this link by Monday 12 October.

Information Sessions: WeBER 2.0 Small Grant Facility

WeBER 2.0 – Western Balkan Civil Society Empowerment for a Reformed Public Administration is seeking project proposals for the implementation of the Local Civil Society PAR Enabling Small Grant Facility (SGF) for support to civil society monitoring of public administration reform at the local level. Find more information here.

Please find below information about the info sessions that will be held for interested applicants.

Please announce your participation at the info session by contacting the country representative as indicated in the table below.

Country

Organiser of the info session

Date

Time

Contact

Serbia European Policy Centre – CEP 24 September 2020 11.00 Jovana Knezevic jovana.knezevic@cep.org.rs
Albania Institute for Democracy and Mediation – IDM 25 September 2020 11.00 Iliada Korcari ikorcari@idmalbania.org
Kosovo Group for Legal and Political Studies – GLPS 24 September 2020 10.00 Ema Pula ema.pula@legalpoliticalstudies.org 
Montenegro Institute Alternative – IA 24 September 2020 11.00 Dragana Jacimovic dragana@institut-alternativa.org
Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Policy Initiative BH – FPI BH 25 September 2020 11.00 Mahir Sijamija mahir@vpi.ba
North Macedonia European Policy Institute – EPI 28 September 2020 12.30 Vaska Ristovska vaska.ristovska@epi.org.mk

Public perceptions of service delivery in the Western Balkans are on the rise

Results from the public perception survey on service delivery suggest that governments in the Western Balkans are striving towards digitalisation and citizen-oriented services.[1] This year’s surveys show that all of the countries in the region are either making progress or remain at the level of the first PAR Monitor 2017/2018.

Public perception points to a more citizen-oriented service delivery

Compared to the results of the previous PAR Monitor, Serbia and Albania record the most noticeable changes with regards to citizens’ perceived simplicity of dealing with public administration (Graph 1). In other words, there were respectively 23 and 18 percentage point increases in these two countries, followed by Montenegro at 14 percentage points.

Survey also show that roughly two thirds of citizens in the region feel that governments are moving towards digitalisation (69%). Apart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, where slightly below 50% of citizens perceive this trend, in all the other countries of the region, between 66 and 81% of citizens surveyed feel this way. At the regional level, citizens noted positive improvement in the time needed to obtain administrative services. This was especially so in Serbia, Albania, and Montenegro, where more than 60% citizens confirmed it has decreased.

It is also worth noting that 58% of citizens in the region claim to recognise governments’ efforts to simplify administrative procedures – more than in the previous PAR Monitor. As before, public administration in Kosovo takes first place according to perceptions, followed by Serbia.

The availability of e-services: more awareness, same levels of usage

The public is increasingly aware of e-services across the Western Balkan countries. Unlike the previous PAR Monitor, no country records below 50% of awareness, with as high as 74% of citizens in Albania (Graph 2). On the flip side, we find that a lot of citizens still do not use these services – a third of citizens in the region stated they had never used them. Additionally, with less than a third of citizens using them either rarely or just sometimes, many used them only occasionally. Notably, only 10% of citizens have used e-services often.

At the same time, surveys show that most citizens in every country (between 70 and 80%) report that e-services are easy to use. This resembles the results of PAR Monitor 2017/2018, in which approximately 80% of citizens surveyed in all countries included reported the ease of use of these services.

Bearing in mind the high awareness figures, a lack of information on e-services is unlikely to account for the low-level usage. More than two thirds of citizens who used e-services, more or less frequently, had little or no difficulties finalising services they requested. Nonetheless, in terms of public perceptions, there has been tangible improvement in citizen-oriented service delivery in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. On the other hand, the situation in Kosovo and North Macedonia has mostly remained unchanged.

 

 

[1] As for the 2017/2018 PAR Monitor, public perception of the awareness of and usefulness of feedback mechanisms, and their availability to citizens, is measured with public perception surveys that were implemented in each of the Western Balkan countries in the same manner. Surveys were implemented in the period from 5 to 30 May 2020.

 

OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS: 2021-2022

The Local Civil Society PAR Enabling Small Grant Facility (SGF) of the WeBER 2.0 Project will be implemented in the period January 2021 – January 2022. A total sum of 225.000 EUR will be allocated to support up to 30 grants.

The overall goal of the Small Grant Facility corresponds to the specific objective of the WeBER 2.0 project: To strengthen the engagement of grassroots and other local CSOs in local PAR, thus further building bottom-up demand and bringing PAR closer to region’s citizens.

The aim of the Small Grant Facility is to provide support for grassroots and local CSOs, that are active in monitoring and evaluation of the PAR in the Western Balkans. Additionally, the Small Grant Facility will support CSOs to engage citizens in PAR through implementation of local citizens consultations, to advocate for PAR locally and establish dialogue on PAR with local authorities. The complete Call for Proposals and all relevant documents are available for download here (in English).

Below you can find information and application packages in local languages:

ALBANIA

Fuqizimi i Shoqërisë Civile të Ballkanit Perëndimor për një Administratë Publike të Reformuar shpall thirrjen për projekt-propozime për zbatimin e ndarjes së granteve të vogla për mbështetjen e monitorimit të reformës së administratës publike nga shoqëria civile, në nivelin lokal. Thirrja për propozime ka shumën totale prej 225.000 EUR, të destinuara për të mbështetur deri në 30 grante, secila me vlerë deri në 8000 EUR (7500 EUR mesatarisht), nga të cilat 6 në Serbi, 6 në Bosnje dhe Hercegovinë, 5 në Shqipëri, 5 në Maqedoninë e Veriut, 4 në Kosovë dhe 4 në Mal të Zi. Kohëzgjatja e granteve është mes 6 dhe 12 muaj. Projekti WeBER 2.0 financohet nga Bashkimi Evropian (BE). Thirrja e plotë për Propozime dhe të gjitha dokumentet përkatëse janë në dispozicion për shkarkim më poshtë:

Paketa e dokumenteve për aplikim

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

WeBER 2.0 projekat – Osnaživanje civilnog društva Zapadnog Balkana za reformisanu javnu upravu raspisuje konkurs za dodjelu malih grantova za podršku organizacijama civilnog društva koje se bave monitoringom reforme javne uprave na lokalnom nivou. Ukupna predviđena sredstva iznose 225.000 eura i ona su namjenjena za podršku 30 projekata u iznosu do 8.000 eura (7.500 eura u prosjeku) od kojih će do 6 biti podržano u Srbiji, do 6 u Bosni i Hercegovini, do 5 u Albaniji, do 5 u Sjevernoj Makedoniji, do 4 na Kosovu i do 4 u Crnoj Gori. Predviđeno trajanje projekata koji će biti odobreni u okviru konkursa je između 6 i 12 mjeseci. WeBER 2.0 projekat finansira EU. Kompletna konkursna dokumentacija nalazi se ispod:

Konkursna dokumentacija

KOSOVO

WeBER 2.0 – Fuqizimi i Shoqërisë Civile të Ballkanit Perëndimor për një Administratë Publike të Reformuar shpall thirrjen për projekt-propozime për zbatimin e ndarjes së granteve të vogla për mbështetjen e monitorimit të shoqërisë civile të reformës së administratës publike në nivelin lokal. Thirrja për propozime ka shumën totale prej 225.000 EUR, të destinuara për të mbështetur deri në 30 grante, secila me vlerë deri në 8000 EUR (7500 EUR mesatarisht), nga të cilat 6 në Serbi, 6 në Bosnje dhe Hercegovinë, 5 në Shqipëri, 5 në Maqedoninë e Veriut, 4 në Kosovë dhe 4 në Mal të Zi. Kohëzgjatja e granteve është mes 6 dhe 12 muaj. Projekti WeBER 2.0 financohet nga Bashkimi Evropian (BE). Thirrja e plotë për Propozime dhe të gjitha dokumentet përkatëse janë në dispozicion për shkarkim më poshtë:

Paketa e dokumenteve për aplikim

MONTENEGRO

WeBER 2.0 projekat – Osnaživanje civilnog društva Zapadnog Balkana za reformisanu javnu upravu raspisuje konkurs za dodjelu malih grantova za podršku organizacijama civilnog društva koje se bave monitoringom reforme javne uprave na lokalnom nivou. Ukupna predviđena sredstva iznose 225.000 eura i ona su namijenjena za podršku 30 projekata u iznosu do 8.000 eura (7.500 eura u prosjeku) od kojih će do 6 biti podržano u Srbiji, do 6 u Bosni i Hercegovini, do 5 u Albaniji, do 5 u Sjevernoj Makedoniji, do 4 na Kosovu i do 4 u Crnoj Gori. Predviđeno trajanje projekata koji će biti odobreni u okviru konkursa je između 6 i 12 mjeseci. WeBER 2.0 projekat finansira Evropska unija (EU). Kompletna konkursna dokumentacija nalazi se ispod:

Konkursna dokumentacija

NORTH MACEDONIA

WeBER 2.0 – Зајакнување на граѓанското општество од западниот Балкан за реформирана јавна администрација е во потрага по предлози за проекти за спроведување на Програмата за мали грантови за поддршка на следењето на реформите во јавната администрација на локално ниво од страна на граѓанското општество. Повикот е со вкупна вредност од 225.000 евра и се планира да се поддржат до 30 грантови, секој со вредност до максимум 8000 евра (7500 евра во просек), од кои 6 во Србија, 6 во БиХ, 5 во Албанија, 5 во Северна Македонија, 4 во Косово и 4 во Црна Гора. Траењето на избраните грантови ќе биде помеѓу 6 и 12 месеци. Проектот WeBER 2.0 е финансиран од Европската Унија. Комплетниот повик и сите потребни документи се достапни за симнување:

Пакет документи за аплицирање

SERBIA

WeBER 2.0 projekat – Osnaživanje civilnog društva Zapadnog Balkana za reformisanu javnu upravu raspisuje konkurs za dodelu malih grantova za podršku organizacijama civilnog društva koje se bave monitoringom reforme javne uprave na lokalnom nivou. Ukupna predviđena sredstva iznose 225.000 evra i ona su namenjena za podršku 30 projekata u iznosu do 8.000 evra (7.500 evra u proseku) od kojih će do 6 biti u podržano u Srbiji, do 6 u Bosni i Hercegovini, do 5 u Albaniji, do 5 u Severnoj Makedoniji, do 4 na Kosovu i do 4 u Crnoj Gori. Predviđeno trajanje projekata koji će biti odobreni u okviru konkursa je između 6 i 12 meseci. WeBER 2.0 projekat finansira Evropska unija (EU). Kompletna konkursna dokumentacija nalazi se ispod:

Konkursna dokumentacija

The rise of a pan-European alliance for the rule of law

Slowly but surely, citizens and the economy of the European Union are beginning to feel the direct and negative repercussions of an increasingly present disregard for breaches of rule of law across member states. The concept of rule of law (which includes elements such as the principle of legality, legal certainty, separation of powers, the prohibition of arbitrary executive power, and the presence of a functional judicial system) is therefore no longer abstract and reserved for discussions within the expert community. In fact, the greatest and most palpable of the EU’s achievements – the single market, the Schengen Zone, and the Eurozone – cannot function if the stability of rule of law is endangered in any member state. At the same time, the existing EU protection mechanisms for the rule of law have so far been redundant. This causes growing frustration within the EU, to the point that some intellectuals openly condition their support for the EU with results in this area. The importance of rule of law, therefore, takes on a practical dimension alongside the normative.

From the standpoint of an advocate for the European project in Serbia also bitter about the hypocritical attitude of key EU actors towards political elites in Serbia and the Western Balkans, I perceive such a development as an opportunity to create a pan-European alliance for defending rule of law, bearing in mind that neither the EU’s future nor our region’s accession process, have much hope without brave and ambitious steps in this area.

Simply put, future enlargements will not happen, as long as a functional system for protecting rule of law is not established within the EU. Many member states will not permit new entrants if the only somewhat effective system of conditionality exists during accession negotiations (i.e. prior to membership). If there is no concrete progress in preventing breaches to rule of law, either on the EU’s side or by the candidate countries, the revised approach to the accession process of the Western Balkans (the “new methodology”) will also be limited in its application. How, for example, would one permit the phased accession of candidates to sectoral policies of the EU, such as within the single market cluster, knowing that the functioning of the single market is dependent on the proper application of rule of law?

To prepare for the difficult times ahead, the citizens of Europe need new guiding ideas and goals, which would give them a purpose and reawaken their spirits. A pan-European alliance for defending rule of law would have its stronghold in the citizens, as well as of political and economic actors of member states and EU aspirants, brought together both by normative ideals and pragmatic interests. Aware of the risks to the existing level of economic integration and legal security, or simply out of a wish to live in a better-organised society, this bloc has immense potential to gather a wide array of supporters and, with adequate political representation, to become a challenger to the status quo.

Beyond growing public endorsement, this alliance would be armed with existing initiatives and policy proposals at the EU level, which promise to start a revolution of sorts within the existing legal framework. Other than the infringement procedure which is launched by the European Commission (EC), and the preliminary rulings by the European Court of Justice, which could both be used more confidently in the future, a proposal for a Regulation on the protection of the Union’s budget in cases of generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in the member states, also deserves substantial attention. The goal of this regulation is to condition access to EU financial resources on adherence to rule of law, giving unprecedented authority to the European Commission. Among others, this regulation would turn the EC into a sort of Venice Commission for the EU budget, authorised to implement measures in cases of limited rule of law, in close cooperation with the European Public Prosecution Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office. The Council of the EU would also reach decisions by reverse qualified majority voting, intended to make it difficult for member states to block EC proposals, thus speeding up the decision-making process.

Eventually, the pan-European alliance would pressure political representatives and foster political will, in order to push forward various measures for the protection of rule of law within the framework of the EU as well as in the context of the Western Balkans’ accession process. Of course, this alliance would necessarily have to introduce sensitive issues to the public along the way, such as Europe’s demographic picture and policies, and (ir)regular migrations, which potential allies and supporters within the EU and the Western Balkans are perhaps not yet ready to face. Nevertheless, is it worth sacrificing the greatest achievements of the EU for the sake of defending the “gates of Europe” and its purported “Christian identity”, by mutually tolerating open breaches of rule of law? It most certainly is not, and now is the right moment to stop running from these issues out of a fear of populism and to instead shake up the status quo with a fresh perspective.

Sena Marić, Programme Manager and Senior Researcher, European Policy Centre – CEP

Providers of administrative services need to regularly reveal the content of feedback by citizens

Brand-new public perception survey results indicate fewer citizen-friendly options for providing opinions on administrative services, compared to PAR Monitor 2017/2018. At the same time, public opinion regarding the involvement of citizens and civil society in monitoring services is clearly growing. When it comes to the availability of information on citizen feedback, websites of service providers are no better than before. Such information on received feedback is mostly absent from their online portals, even in its most basic form.

The public views feedback channels as harder to use but stronger effects of external monitoring of service delivery

Perception surveys indicate that around half of the Western Balkan population sees possibilities to give opinions on the quality of services. This perception grew for almost 20% since the PAR Monitor 2017/2018.[1] On the country level, roughly a third of citizens in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina believe this is the case while in all the others, it reaches more than 50% of population.

In terms of the citizen-friendliness however, things appear to have gotten worse. A striking example is Albania, with 42% less of those surveyed noting that feedback channels are easy to use. In four of the countries, this decline is 30 percentage points or more.

More citizens in the region feel they are involved, together with civil society, in monitoring service delivery by administrations (42% as opposed to 26% previously). This has also led to a growing perception that such involvement has in fact improved service delivery. The difference can go as high as 20 percentage points, as in the cases of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Service providers remain reluctant to divulge details on feedback from citizens

There is a general lack of transparency of the information shared by citizens as feedback. Like the baseline PAR Monitor, administrations share almost no such information regarding five common administrative services. These include property, business, vehicle registration, obtaining personal documents, and VAT declaration and payment.

Still, some have just started publishing information in some areas – in Albania, for vehicle registration, and in Serbia, there is some basic data on the numbers of received and resolved complaints regarding registering businesses.

Overall, without transparency on feedback and how it is being used, citizen-oriented service delivery is hardly imaginable. Providing details on how users feel about services should become business as usual, but is, instead, lacking for the second monitoring cycle in a row. Overall, the PAR Monitor 2019/2020 has shown few major changes, and a certain level of backsliding in two countries.

[1] As in PAR Monitor 2017/2018, public perceptions on awareness of and usefulness of feedback mechanisms, and availability of feedback information to citizens, are measured through public perception surveys implemented in each of the Western Balkan countries in the same manner. Surveys were implemented in the period from the 5 to 30 May 2020.

The fifth meeting of the National Working Group for Public Administration Reform in BiH

On the Zoom platform, 22/7/2020 the fifth meeting of the National Working Group (NWG) for Public Administration Reform (PAR) within WeBER in BiH was held. This was the first meeting of the working group in Bosnia and Herzegovina within the new WeBER2.0 project. At the meeting, Mahir Sijamija, VPI BH Project Officer, announced and presented the new program of small grants for civil society organizations. After that, Anida Šabanović, director of VPI BH and Haris Ćutahija, researcher of VPI BH, held a presentation on the topic “European consultations with citizens: introduction and presentation of methods”. The meeting ended with a discussion on the implementation and priorities of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina and on the status and activities of civil society organizations involved.

The event brought together representatives of civil society, as well as experts in the field of public administration reform.

Meeting of the WeBER National Working Group for Public Administration Reform in Serbia was held

On Thursday, 16 July 2020, the fifth meeting of the WeBER National Working Group (NWG) for Public Administration Reform (PAR) in Serbia was held on the Zoom platform. This is the first meeting of the NWG for PAR in Serbia within the new WeBER2.0 project. The upcoming scheme of small grants facility for civil society organisations was discussed at this event, and researchers from the European Policy Centre (CEP) from Serbia presented the practice of citizens engagement through consultations and the methods of European consultations with citizens.

The members of the NWG were also introduced to the Loomio discussion platform, through which the participants of the meeting had an opportunity to discuss accommodation of the work on sectoral PAR mainstreaming in Serbia and the update of the PAR Resource Centre with new publications, as well as the upcoming call for new members of the NWGs. The plan is to use this platform for further consultations with members of each WeBER national working group in the Western Balkans.

The Western Balkans and the COVID-19: Effects on good governance, rule of law and civil society

This policy brief underscores outstanding issues that emerged during the COVID-19 crisis with possible long-term consequences on the functioning of democracy and rule of law in the six countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. This paper specifically addresses the impact of the crisis on the functioning of democratic institutions, the judiciary, fundamental rights and freedoms, transparency, civil society, and the media, and continues to assess its impact on the social and political climates in each country of the region. The report identifies country-specific as well as common issues that should be monitored closely going forward.

Download the brief here.

The-Western-Balkans-and-the-COVID-19-Effects-on-good-governance-rule-of-law-and-civil-society