European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen kicked off her tour of the Western Balkans from Albania on Wednesday (30.09). The focus of the visit was on European integration and the region's next steps towards the EU.
In Tirana, she presented the perspective of a roadmap for Albania's further path towards membership. At a time when senior Albanian officials are facing justice, von der Leyen said in a press conference that investigations prove that the system is working. While Prime Minister Edi Rama reiterated the position that responsibility for violations is individual.
Von der Leyen: Investigations show strengthening of justice
From the former President of the Republic, to ministers and former ministers, mayors and even the head of SHISH, high-ranking officials and former officials in Albania are facing investigations by the judiciary.
Asked by DW whether corruption could become an obstacle to European integration, von der Leyen considered the investigations as evidence of the functioning and strengthening of the judicial system.
"The fight against corruption and organized crime is key, it is at the core, at the heart of all the work. When we see cases that are being investigated, they are proof that the system is working. I think this is the strengthening of the judicial system that we are seeing," said the President of the European Commission.
Asked by DW whether corruption could become an obstacle to European integration, von der Leyen considered the investigations as evidence of the functioning and strengthening of the judicial system. Photo: Office of the Prime Minister of Albania
Von der Leyen also spoke about the roadmaps that the EU intends to define for candidate countries, linking them to today's geopolitical reality. According to her, they will specify the tasks and deadlines in the accession process.
"These roadmaps will turn the path to membership into concrete steps. We will clarify what remains to be done, by what date, at what time and what will come next," von der Leyen said.
Rama on appointments: My responsibility is justice reform
On Sunday, after returning from New York, Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke from Rinas about the arrest of SHISH head Vlora Hyseni. Before arriving at the Prime Minister's office, Rama reiterated the position he has held in other cases of high-ranking officials facing justice, that responsibility is individual.
At the press conference, DW asked about the prime minister's political responsibility for the appointments made. But Rama limited his political responsibility to the continuation of the justice reform and the independent functioning of the system.
"My political responsibility is one and only one, that the justice reform does not stop, that the fight against corruption and organized crime is increasingly developed as a mission of the system," said Rama.
Rama added that in a democracy, anyone who violates the law must face independent justice.
"No one is protected when it comes to facing the consequences of an action that falls within the sphere of judicial power, the sphere of investigation or independent judgment. This is where my political responsibility begins and ends," said Rama.
The concept of political responsibility
Rama saw political responsibility for appointments differently. According to him, the fact that an official appointed by the prime minister may violate the law while performing his duties does not make the person who appointed him politically responsible. In fact, the prime minister took such a way of conceiving responsibility back in time, comparing it to communism.
"If you think that when an appointment is made, then at that moment the responsibility of the appointer arises, as a result of the fact that the appointee along the way may make a mistake in relation to the line of conduct, this is a way of seeing it like in the time of communism," he said. /DW
