The Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Communities and its Member States and the Republic of Albania came into force on 1 April 2009.

 

Pursuant to this Agreement, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania through Decision No 862 of 12.07.2009 “On some amendments to the DCM No 463 of 5.07.2006 'On the approval of the National Plan for the Implementation of the Stabilisation Agreement” approved the National Plan for the Implementation of the SAA 2009-2014.

The National Plan for the Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement 2009-2014 (NPISAA 2009-2014) lays down all short, medium and long term priorities of Albania in the European integration process and focuses particularly on:

-          2007 European Partnership priorities for Albania and the issues raised by the 2008 EC Progress Report for Albania;

-          Implementation of the commitments under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement;

-          Priorities for the approximation of the Albanian legislation to the acquis communautaire;

-          Definition of administrative capacity necessary for the implementation of the SAA commitments according to the fields;

-          Definition of financial costs for the implementation of the SAA commitments, in line with the medium term budget programming and other financial costs set out in sector in the sector strategies.

 

NPISAA 2009-2014 is divided in three parts:

-          Political Criteria

-          Economic Criteria

-          European Standards – Ability to cope with the EU membership obligations

 

Political Criteria includes issues of democracy and the rule of law, further democratisation of parliamentary life, preparations of Albanian institutions to hold elections, reforms in the public administration and judicial system, the fight against corruption, media freedom, human rights and protection of national minorities, penitentiary institutions and juvenile justice system as well as regional and international cooperation.

Political Criteria includes issues of macroeconomic stability, economic growth, public and private investment reforms, public debt, monetary policy and the balance of payments.

 

European standards or the ability to take on the obligations of membership in the EU, include the obligation to adopt gradually – according to the deadlines agreed upon in the SAA – the Community regulations and the establishment of administrative framework able to ensure appropriate implementation of adopted legislation. This chapter handles fundamental rights and sector policies of the internal market, and cooperation in justice and home affairs which are focused in the adoption of the acquis and development of institutional infrastructure necessary for the accomplishment of European standards.

 

Each field in the NPISAA 2009-2014 consists of the executive summary and the programming section related to legal initiatives and implementing activities to be carried out by the Albanian government in each sector or sub-sector, in the light of the priorities defined in the European Partnership, SAA and acquis chapters for each short-term (2009-2010), medium-term (2011-2012) and long-term (2013 – 2014) period. 

 

 

An organic part of NPISAA 2009-2014 is the identification of costs for the preparation of legal initiatives and corresponding activities for their implementation.

Annexes of the National Plan for the Implementation of the SAA constitute an important and integral part of NPISAA 2009-2014.

 

This Annex includes all the legal initiatives envisaged to be undertaken by the Line Ministries in line with the obligations identified in the European Partnership and the SAA. This list is broken down according to ministries and relevant fields. Likewise, this Annex provides information on the degree of concordance of Albanian pieces of legislation to Community ones, the reference, the responsible and coordinating institution, deadline of submission to the Council of Ministers and entry in force of the piece of legislation.

This Annex provides the costs for translation and legislation drafting envisaged to be covered by the ministries' budget and gives the share of costs not covered by the existing programmes.

In this context, it should be noted that costs attached to legislation preparation and translation are not the ultimate costs, but rather that part of spending that was possible to be identified by the working groups of Line Ministries.

 

This Annex presents the need for additional human resources divided by sectors and ministries or other institutions. This information will provide the basis for the conception of the reform strategy of public institutions in the framework of institutional modifications required for the implementation of the SAA.

 

This Annex sets the list of implementing activities to be undertaken by Line Ministries in line with the obligations arising from the European Partnership and the SAA. This list is broken down according to ministries and relevant areas. In addition, this Annex provided information on implementing and coordinating institutions as well as deadlines for start and termination of activities.

The information in this Annex is given in a rather synthetic way to indicate the funds needed by Line Ministries and other institutions to strengthen their capacity and to build the infrastructure necessary for the implementation of the SAA. In this view, the Annex identified financing needs that are not covered by existing projects and need to be addressed by the new Community financing programme and other donors.