A technical discussion roundtable was held today on the issue of property and the challenges related to property, as part of the EU accession negotiations. This roundtable is one of 12 technical discussion tables held in relation to the analytical document prepared under the Special Parliamentary Committee for deepening reforms on good governance, the rule of law, and anti-corruption for Albania’s EU accession by 2030.
Today’s roundtable, which was also attended by Prime Minister Edi Rama, addressed one of the most sensitive and problematic issues within the framework of the country’s sustainable development, where legality, transparency, and justice intersect to directly impact the lives of all citizens.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama: For the sake of truth, I wanted to participate in one of the roundtables, and since there were three roundtables left, and this, if I’m not mistaken, is the ninth one, among the three remaining topics for this type of discussion at this stage of the process, I thought it would be appropriate to choose your roundtable because of the high sensitivity it has for the public, for the government, but also for the EU, the issue of property.
And of course, I am not here to give my opinion, because the main goal of this special committee and of all the large group of independent experts who have been engaged in this extraordinary work, both in terms of volume and the contribution of opinions and perspectives as a result of this group of experts, is for the parliament to become the epicenter of an intensive interaction that starts with this phase of the process and, in my view, should continue until Albania becomes an EU member.
Naturally, the way the special committee will transform into a permanent mechanism within the parliament and serve as a reference point for all state institutions will, I believe, be determined by this very process, when conclusions are drawn and tasks are assigned to all institutions and all three branches of power: the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary.
Allow me to express my gratitude to all of you and to all the experts, and at the same time, to express my solidarity with those among you who, because of your participation in this process—which, in my view, is primarily a patriotic process, because it is essential for creating a broad support front for Albania as it negotiates its EU membership—have been subjected to various accusations, insinuations, and attacks through these channels and various networks of public gossip, which, in my view, are mistakenly referred to as “freedom of speech.”
Having said all this, I want to emphasize three things. First, regarding this process and this very Commission. In my view, this Commission is, at this moment, an indispensable and irreplaceable instrument for our success in the accession process and for the success of the negotiations. Because, in the EU, we do not go as the government of Albania representing everyone, but we go as a front of institutions—institutions that represent the three branches of power, which, in their relationship with one another, have spaces for communication and interaction, but also have boundaries because they are independent from each other.
The second point I want to emphasize is that whenever there is a new initiative, a new effort, or a stated goal to take a new step, many people will often ask, “Now you remembered?” In fact, I believe we didn’t just remember now; we’ve been aware of it since the very first day we took on this responsibility. However, at each stage, there are new challenges, and every step requires its own time and effort.
Now, speaking about property, it is clear that if we look back— the director of the Cadaster provided some information about the volume of legalizations carried out since the establishment of the legalization institution after the legalization law was passed— we can understand two things: First, that the work done has been substantial, and the improvement is significant compared to where we started, but still insufficient when compared to where we need to be. And as long as our ultimate goal is to sit at the EU table— and congratulations on setting the deadline— I must admit I am taking advantage of this opportunity, because this is the only institution and place in the Republic of Albania where I’ve heard the presidium set a 3-minute time limit, the same one set in NATO and EU meetings. However, the only shortcoming you have, and one that should be addressed, is that there should be a timer in front of all the speakers, and when time is up, the microphone should be turned off. Since you have this gap, I am using it to say that— it is crucial to understand that as long as our goal is the EU, the volume of work ahead of us is not only much greater than what has been accomplished so far, but it is also non-negotiable. They say “negotiations,” but in fact, they are not negotiations; they are tasks we must complete, because we are the ones who want to enter their house, not the other way around.
If many developing countries have had the ambition to democratize and achieve standards that ensure these three key aspects, there is a reason why it hasn’t worked in Afghanistan, or in Iran—I’m using these two as examples—while in the Balkans it is working. For me, the reason is simple: we have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge of the EU, we have the opportunity to interact with the EU and take these steps, and we are fortunate to be here, in the heart of Europe, with the European Union. Without the integration process and without the EU as a strategic ally, as well as the opportunity of being in the center of Europe, we would have to forget this goal, just as the Afghans have, just as other countries that once hoped to reach these standards have forgotten.
To conclude, I want to stress that today it is entirely possible for us to achieve our ambition of joining the EU while meeting all the criteria related to property, because today we have the blessing of time, thanks to technology. Without this blessing, all of these processes would take much longer.
Thanks to technology, we can take the final step to complete a process that has taken a long time, but could have taken much longer. And this is not a joke; it’s a real example from judicial processes in Albania. Since the lady who opened this roundtable mentioned an example, I’ll close with it. It’s the case of a property dispute that goes to court, and the court orders a map. However, due to the map’s frequent folding and unfolding, some areas of it were so worn that the court, in its decision, explicitly states: “The dispute cannot be resolved because the property is in a hole.”
This was the process, this was the challenge, and now, all the “holes” that would otherwise have taken much longer to address can be closed thanks to technology, blockchain, AI, and so on. In this regard, I am very optimistic because we have made significant progress in all governance structures. I hope that the other branches of government—the legislative and the judiciary—will do much more in this area, because if we do not all work together, we will remain a territory where the system cannot offer everything it could, simply because not the entire state is plugged into the system.
I thank you all once again for your contributions. The fact is that, in the end, everyone, who wishes to remember, will see that this commission and the results that come from it will be an invaluable contribution to Albania’s accession to the European Union.
It is a historic contribution, because this is a historic process. Once again, I thank you all, and those who were hurt by the blows at the beginning of the process should be very proud of this contribution. At the same time, from my experience as someone who has been tested by the weight of mud, I can tell you, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”