The Executive Secretary of GRECO, Mr Gianluca Esposito participated in the High-Level Conference on “Strengthening integrity and fighting corruption: latest achievements” organized by the Ministry of Justice of Albania in Tirana on 13 October 2020. The Conference was attended by the Prime Minister of Albania, the Minister of Justice, international organisations and diplomatic missions in Albania.

The aim of this Conference was to present to international partners the Government’s efforts to prevent and combat corruption and some of the latest initiatives in this direction.

Participants highlighted the good progress acknowledged by the latest GRECO Report.

Albania has implemented in a satisfactory manner 9 out of the 10 GRECO’s recommendations on corruption prevention in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors.

GRECO`s Executive Secretary stressed that this achievement means in practice that to a large extent Albania has put in place the necessary measures to prevent corruption in the legislative and judiciary branches, noting that in respect of the latter more progress is needed. He added that this framework needs to be effectively and continuously implemented in practice to make a meaningful difference.

Participants expressed their appreciation for the cooperation with the Council of Europe in the fight against economic crime. The support provided in the frame of the joint EU/CoE Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey Action against Economic Crime in Albania contributed to meeting the requirements set by the international standards, but also to the implementation of the recommendations by the relevant monitoring bodies.

The Council of Europe will continue to support Albania`s efforts in the prevention and fight against corruption.