The fifth Steering Committee Meeting of the European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility Action against Economic Crime in Albania brought together representatives from all main beneficiary institutions of the Action and representatives of the European Union Delegation to Albania and the Council of Europe to reflect on project achievements over the last six months and discuss final project actions. Participant discussions contributed to the evaluation of the project, both in terms of implementation and its actual impact on the prevention and fight against corruption and economic crime.

The representative from the European Union Delegation to Albania affirmed that the Action is extremely relevant to fighting corruption and economic crime both on the policy and political level and in facilitating progress on EU accession key priorities. Participants highlighted the results of the implementation and some of the lessons learned expressing satisfaction from the achievement of the outcomes and the flexible approach adopted by the Action in accommodating their needs.

For the remaining implementation period, Committee members discussed and took note of the revised calendar of activities and finalisation of the full range of activities, including update of the National Risk Assessment and revision of the Anti-money Laundering/Countering Terrorist Financing legal framework, trainings on asset tracing for purposes of seizure and confiscation in criminal case and Money Laundering/Terrorist Financingin vestigations, prosecutions and adjudications, roll-out of the electronic asset declaration system, and further steps for implementation of Political Party Finance legislation in light of upcoming elections.