Honouring of obligations and commitments by Albania
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 28 June 2000 (20th Sitting) (see Doc. 8771, report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe, rapporteurs: MM. Smorawinski and Solé Tura). Text adopted by the Assembly on 28 June 2000 (20thSitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The Parliamentary Assembly commends the
Albanian authorities and the Albanian population on their self-control and
restraint during the Kosovo conflict, their hospitality towards the refugees
and their co-operation with the international community.
2. After
years of political instability, characterised by the failure to draft a new
constitution and by non-participation of the opposition in the parliamentary
process, Albania has made substantial progress in the honouring of its
obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe:
a notwithstanding an extremely serious economic
and social crisis in 1997 and the dramatic consequences of the Kosovo conflict
in 1999, Albania is establishing the rule of law all over its territory:
2.1.1 it has taken measures to ensure security in
all regions;
2.1.2 it has re-organised the judiciary and the
police;
2.1.3 it is fighting organised crime and
corruption;
b Albania has introduced an
appropriate electoral system based on a new electoral law which was elaborated
with the assistance of OSCE and Council of Europe experts, and which meets the
conditions of a pluralist democracy;
c it has signed and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights
and Protocols Nos. 1, 2, 4, 7 and 11;
d it has approved by referendum a new constitution in accordance with
Council of Europe principles and values;
e it has signed Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human
Rights on abolition of the death penalty;
f it has signed and ratified the European Convention for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Convention
on Extradition, the European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons,
the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, the General
Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe and the
European Charter of Local Self Government;
g it has adopted a law on electronic media;
h it has adopted and implemented a law on the organisation of
justice;
i it has made substantial peaceful contributions to the settlement of
the Kosovo conflict;
j it has fully co-operated in the monitoring procedure.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that after two periods
where parliament was boycotted by the main opposition parties (September 1997
to January 1998 and July 1998 to July 1999), pluralist democracy is functioning
again with the return to parliament of the Democratic Party. The Assembly
welcomes this return and urges the Democratic Party to fill the seats which
have been assigned to the opposition in Albanian institutions, such as the Ad
hoc Committee on the Stability Pact, the Civil Service Commission and the
National Council for Radio and Television.
4. The Parliamentary
Assembly calls on all political forces in Albania to work together to
consolidate these achievements, to intensify and secure the political dialogue
and to ensure implementation of the provisions in the conventions which Albania
has ratified and in the legislative texts which have been adopted.
5. On the other hand, the Parliamentary Assembly observes that the Albanian
authorities have set in motion a number of procedures:
a ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human
Rights on the abolition of the death penalty;
b adoption and subsequent implementation of the draft law on the
press;
c elaboration of a law on the organisation of the Office of the
Prosecutor General;
d ratification of the European Social Charter, signed on 21 September
1998, and the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the
Proceeds from Crime, signed on 4 April 2000;
e examination with a view to ratification of the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages.
6. The Parliamentary Assembly encourages the Albanian
authorities to accelerate these procedures and conclude them successfully: the
death penalty must be removed from Albanian legislation, the bills before
parliament must be examined, voted and implemented and the conventions must be
ratified.
7. In order to provide further assistance and advice in this process of
consolidation of democratic stability and development of civil society, and to
help Albania complete the honouring of its obligations and commitments, the
Parliamentary Assembly has decided to follow closely further developments in
Albania, including the status of minorities and implementation of the Stability
Pact for Southeastern Europe.
8. The Parliamentary Assembly is in particular concerned that the
forthcoming local and general elections in Albania, respectively foreseen for
October 2000 and June 2001, will be held in accordance with the new Electoral
Law, that they will be fair and free and that their results will be accepted by
all political parties.
9. It is in the light of these elections and of further legislative and
administrative measures taken in the framework of the monitoring procedure,
that the Parliamentary Assembly will be able to decide whether Albania can be
considered as having honoured its obligations and commitments as a member state
of the Council of Europe.
10. The Assembly resolves to hold a debate on the issue after the
parliamentary elections in Albania foreseen for June 2001.
