Effectively tackling and combating corruption and organized crime remains the main priority of the European Union for Albania after the opening of membership negotiations in March 2020 and the upcoming First Intergovernmental Conference. According to the revised enlargement methodology, the effective fight against the organized crime will remain one of the key indicators for the progress in the EU accession process, therefore the success in the track records will need to be measurable.

In this context, since their establishment in December 2019, the activity of special institutions (SPAK and Special Courts) has been in the focus of monitoring and evaluation towards the Albania’s progress in the fight against corruption and organized crime, as the main conditions for country membership in the European Union. The Roundtable Discussion organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance aimed to:

• Encourage discussions on findings in the fight against corruption and organized crime and generate necessary recommendations.
• Contribute to discussions on the approach and mechanisms for assessing the performance of institutions against corruption and organized crime.
• Encourage cooperation, interaction and involvement of institutions in order to improve appraisal and management performance.
• Encourage the engagement of local and international actors as well as other stakeholders in order to identify and address key issues of importance.

* This is the second policy paper produced by the Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance (CSDG) in the framework of the project: “Improved Policy Debate and Accountability to Delivering on Fundamentals First, through the Establishment of Cluster One EU Negotiations Platform – Albania (C1-EU-NPA)” with the support of the Netherlands Embassy in Tirana.