The Council of Europe, together with the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection, organised an event to present the implementing by-laws under Albania’s Law on Lobbying and discuss the next steps towards their implementation.
The event brought together representatives of public institutions, civil society organisations, the private sector and other stakeholders. It featured remarks by Adea Pirdeni, Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption; Siri Walt, Swiss Ambassador to Albania; and Giulia Re, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Tirana.
The new implementing by-laws complete Albania’s legal framework on lobbying, marking an important development for the country. They establish rules governing the future lobbying register, the registration of lobbyists, the declarations of lobbying activities, verification procedures, conflict-of-interest safeguards, awareness-raising and document retention related to such activities.
The framework will help public officials and lobbyists better understand their responsibilities, while enabling the public to access relevant information on lobbying activities.
Addressing the event, Giulia Re, underlined that the next priority is to ensure the effective implementation of the new framework. This will require awareness-raising, practical guidance and capacity-building for those responsible for applying the rules, as well as the development of a digital lobbying register to support transparency and oversight.
Transparent and accountable lobbying is an essential part of democratic policymaking, making Albania’s efforts to strengthen its lobbying framework particularly relevant in the context of the country’s EU accession process. Moving forward, the Council of Europe will support Albania in developing a lobbying register to fully operationalise the existing legislative and regulatory framework and enhance the transparency of lobbying activities.
The Council of Europe will continue supporting the Albanian authorities through the project “Enhancing Public Sector Resilience against Corruption”, co-funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe.