National Resource Center for CSOs in Albania: Opening of negotiations for EU membership – the participation of civil society in the main structures and stages of the negotiation process, 14 October 2022, Tirana

On Friday, October 14 2022, EMA organized a workshop on the topic of “Opening of negotiations for EU membership – the participation of civil society in the main structures and stages of the negotiation process”, in the framework of the National Resource Center for Civil Society in Albania. With the active participation of 18 civil society representatives, the activity achieved two objectives – informing CSOs about the negotiation process, negotiation structures and opportunities for inclusion, as well as providing space for discussion and Q&A sessions with the experts.

The first session of the workshop was led by Gledis Gjipali, EMA, who, among other things, spoke about the European Commission’s report on Albania published recently. The focus of his presentation were the developments of the preparation process and the progress made on the chapters throughout the year. To demonstrate how the preparation and progress were measured “The Scorecard of Progress and Level of Preparation’ prepared by EMA,’ for the political criteria was observed. Gjipali analyzed the negotiation process of other countries to identify good practices that can benefit Albania. After the presentation, participants engaged in a discussion on Albania’s progress and how civil society can be better involved to address the problems they may encounter. Views were exchanged on the importance of CSOs contribution to the European Commission’s report. This denoted the need to establish a communication bridge with Brussels in order to reflect in the Commission’s report important issues for society.

The second session was led by Altin Fuga, MEFA, who gave an introduction to the state institutions and other structures playing an important role in the EU integration process. The impasse in the involvement of CSOs was flagged during the discussion for a more effective and efficient functioning of the discussion tables. The attendees suggested some solutions to address the problems at hand, such as better targeted calls for participation in order to absorb the relevant human resources for the Partnership Platform. Another valuable recommendation was the organization of informative campaigns and training of CSOs members beforehand to achieve a more fruitful cooperation at the discussion tables.

In the third session, Altin Fuga, MEFA, talked about the negotiation process, breaking down the stages and the procedures. The participants followed in real time the explanatory meeting of the screening process for Chapter 28 and previous meetings for other chapters were explained. Moreover, technical aspects of collecting information for reporting, the drafting of documents and the way of reporting were discussed. Fuga answered questions on the lack of human resources in the public administration and the challenges it brings during the reporting process and preparing for the negotiations. A special focus was given to the participation of civil society members in this process. Participants were encouraged to engage not only as CSO stakeholders in discussion tables, but, if possible, to offer their expertise on specific subject-matters. It was noted that working with experts is of great positive impact as it can lead to a well-thought-out and effective action plan to speed up Albania’s EU integration.