Annual progress report 2015 albanian contribution – input I september 2014 – may 2015 table of contents
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- Legal framework
- 1.3. Government
- Regarding Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF
- regional and horizontal program IPA Multi-beneficiary
- Montenegro-Albania ; Albania-Kosovo and FYROM-Albania
- Italy-Albania-Montenegro
- 1.4 Public administration reform
| Part of the proposing package with recommendations for the improvement of Electoral Code, besides the findings of technical consultation tables, organized with the participation of stakeholders and interested factors, Central Election Commission, made also the institution's own proposals for changes I amendments to certain provisions of the Electoral Code, in order to improve organizational and administrative aspect of the process.
Electoral Code, in article 21, point 10, defines as a competence of CEC the conduct of training for electoral administration in non-election period and in a periodic way for all the interested parties, defining that these training can be in general or specific to special functions of electoral administration. To meet this competence, which basically is taking legal responsibility for conducting continuing training in order to increase the quality of knowledge of electoral law and legal procedures by persons directly I indirectly involved in electoral processes, CEC intended an effective implementation of a comprehensive process, both through topics of training, as well as geographical expansion in 10 main cities (centre of regions). CEC conducted training programs in non-electoral period, not only as a legal fulfilment but also through them, aiming awareness and sensitization of people in order to minimize or eliminate the problems or identified "defects" during electoral processes. CEC is taking measures for the training of electoral administration, especially for the secretaries of the CEAZ and the operators of data entry for effective use of the modulestominimiseerrorsduringdataentryandpublicationofpreliminaryof election results in each Ballot Counting Centres (BCC) Although the Electoral Code, envisaged as complementary sanction, the filling of each vacancy in the subject list in the Electoral Zone where the violation of gender quota has been identified, with candidates of less represented gender, the desired goal was not achieved. The female MPs in the composition of the Assembly of Albania after the resignation of MPs is actually 29 or 20.71 %. After the election of June 2013 out of 140 MPs only 25 or 17.86°/o are females. In these conditions the CEC based on the recommendations presented to the Assembly:
With the issue of the decree of the President of the Republic no.8844, dated 15.12.2014, for setting of the date for elections to local government bodies, the CEC during the end of 2014 adopted some important Acts for these elections. One of the important decisions of the CEC is the approval of the Orientation Plan. Actions to be taken by the CEC, derive from the provisions of the Electoral Code and have their application in practice. The approval of this orientation plan of actions constitutes a basic document for launching the activity of CEC, in accordance with the provisions of Article 21 of the Electoral Code. Thus preparing a calendar of its actions, CEC aimed that the preparatory election process be set in a legal framework that is an organized and not by accident/ chance system. In early 2015, CEC prepared and adopted a series of important acts, but some of them were conditioned with the approval in Assembly of the draft law "On amendments to the law no.10019, dated 29.12.2008" the Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania ", in terms of the law, No.115 1 2014" on administrative-territorial division of local government units in the Republic of Albania". It is worth mentioning that the decision of CEC, with full quorum of members of the CEC, has been with full consensus and transparency. For the reporting period there are in place strategies to be followed in the training programs for election commissioners of second and third level and for education of voters, as conceptual Plans that will define the goals / main directions for the training of election commissioners and to educate voters for the local elections in 2015, as specific strategies to their own specifications. In this context, the successful fulfilment of legal obligations deriving from the Constitution and the Electoral Code, to ensure the right of all Albanian citizens to vote and be elected regardless of ethnic origin, race, religion or language, CEC approved and electoral education campaign, as one of the main documents, which defines specific projects targeting specific groups such as ethnic minorities. In the framework of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to guarantee full political, civil, social rights for national minorities, voter education campaign is conceived as a campaign with closer approach to voters. Infrastructure for election information tracking is always focused on finding detailed, comprehensive and inclusive mechanisms so that no representative of national minorities do not feel excluded from receiving this information. CEC has constant communication with the National Committee for Minorities, in order to fulfil a comprehensive informative / educational / awareness raising voters ' framework (an integral part of which are national minorities), for their role in the implementation of a regular election process, minimizing cases of invalidity of the vote, increasing their participation in the elections, in order to fulfil the highest standards of democracy. Experiences of previous electoral processes, clearly proved that a good part of the national minority voters have difficulty to know the contents of the ballot paper, due to unsatisfactory command of Albanian language. To avoid these barriers, for elections to local government bodies in 2015, CEC will produce a poster in the languages of national minorities, which will reflect the ballot papers for mayor and municipal council, where these voters have residence. Electoral information will be transmitted to the visual media in the form of titles, and the one that will be published in the print media, will be implemented in national minority languages and will be broadcasted 1 published in visual or written media in those areas where there are large numbers of them. The Albanian Parliament ratified the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. In this context, CEC is very active and takes making maximum efforts to facilitate participation of persons with disabilities in elections. The efforts have been intensified and bridges of cooperation with the institutions responsible for providing timely legal duties assigned by the Electoral Code have been set up. In those cases where it is observed violation of the provisions of the law, CEC has reviewed them case by case imposing administrative sanctions against institutions which do not cooperate with the CEC. Legal framework CEC has accelerated the process of adopting the Acts beyond the planned deadlines in the action plan to facilitate the administration of the process in the most efficient manner, for providing and establishing electoral logistical infrastructure For the adoption of legal acts within the time limits envisaged in the provisions of the Electoral Code, CEC has given its opinion requested by the Ministry of Local Government, regarding the draft law "On some amendments to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania approved by Law no, 10019, dated 29.12.2008 ", to adapt the latter with the new administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Albania, division which also affected the changes to the Electoral Code CEC in special session of Assembly has expressed opinions and suggestions about the initiatives of the deputies for the proposal of the draft law "On some amendments to the Electoral Code" On 11 March 2015 the Parliamentary Commission for Legal Affairs, Public Administration and Human Rights, began examining two important draft Laws:
The first aims to improve the provisions of the Electoral Code, in accordance with the new administrative territorial division. The second one is an initiative of some MP women for changes regarding gender criteria on presenting the lists of candidates by political parties. CEC considered two draft laws, and attended in the hearing, giving opinions and technical suggestions based on its experience and professionalism. The Law Commission accepted all opinions and suggestions regarding the first draft law.CEC also paid attention to procedural deadlines provided by the current Electoral Code, which due to the new administrative - territorial division are inapplicable up to the approval of the above-mentioned amendments in the Electoral Code. To solve this situation the CEC suggested to the Law Commission, the adoption of a transitional provision under which, exclusively for elections to local government bodies in 2015, the deadlines provided in Article 28 of the Electoral Code which cannot be applied, charges CEC for their approval by decision, immediately upon entry into force of this law. So CEC takes responsibility not only for the issuing of secondary acts in a very short period of time for the improvement of the various procedures provided in the Electoral Code, but also to resolve the conflict CEC shall issue a decision that will adjust all the inapplicable deadlines. Finally, referring to consensual actions taken by CEC, positive attitude shown by the political party representatives in the CEC, in the progress of the whole process in general and the adoption of bylaws in particular, as well as in the spirit of cooperation among actors and stakeholders involved in the electoral process, the CEC remains fully committed in ensuring the integrity of the coming electoral process, for the conduct of free, fair and honest elections. 1.3. Government Overall policy coordination: The process and methodology for drafting the NSDI 2014-2020 Strategic Planning and Programme Development Unit, within the Department of Development Programming, Financing and Foreign Aid, in the Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for the coordination of work between the Albanian institutions in order to finalize the drafting of the NSDI 2015-2020. In September 2014, Phase II of 2015-2017 PBA hearings with institutions and ministries was completed, organized by the Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Enterprise and the Ministry of European Integration. During these negotiations, the Strategic Planning and Programme Development Unit has submitted the relevant comments in relation to compliance with financial requirements, presented in the context of financing Term Budget (PBA) from 2015 to 2017, with the Government Programme, the priorities defined in sector and cross-cutting strategies, and the National Plan for European Integration 2014-2020. Also during this period, in the context of drafting the NSDI 2015-2020, the following should be noted:
NSDI is due for approval in May-June 2015. EU Integration process coordination European integration is the main priority of the Albanian government, which continues to pay particular attention to reforms, especially those addressing of the 5 key priorities for opening the accession negotiations. The Ministry of European Integration since last year has been coordinating the work of all the Line Ministries and other independent institutions for the implementation of the measures foreseen in the Road Map. To date the Road Map has been completed up to an 88% of the total measures foreseen. 2 meetings of the High Level Dialogue (HLD) took place during the reporting period, with the participation of European Commission, Government Ministers, as well as the opposition. The HLD meetings praised the results and reforms delivered by the Government under the key priorities and focused on the importance of inclusiveness in the reform process as an essential element to guarantee the sustainability of reforms. In order to implement the key five priorities 5 Joint Working Groups (JWG) have been established with representatives from the European Commission and from relevant Albanian institutions responsible for each of the priorities. These Working Groups help Albania to focus on concrete reform results under each key priority and to ensure a credible process. The fulfilment of the key priorities is monitored by the Joint Working Groups through clear and objective benchmarks set up in the Roadmap. The meetings of the JWGs are well coordinated with the schedule of the High Level Dialogue. During the reporting period the Joint Working Groups met twice (18 September 2014 and 5 February 2015). Furthermore 5 national inter institutional groups on the key priorities have been established for monitoring and coordinating the implementation of each of the 5 key priorities on a daily basis. These Working Groups are led by the Ministry responsible for each priority with membership of the representatives of all the ministries and institutions involved in addressing the respective priority. The Ministry of European Integration co-ordinated the preparation of an annual update of the National Plan for European Integration (NPIE) 2015 – 2020. The draft NPIE was shared with the civil society organisations and EU Delegation in Albania in March 2015. The legal procedures for the approval of the NPIE 2015 – 2020 started in April 2015 and the Plan is due for adoption in May 2015. Seven SAA Subcommittees and one SAA Committee meetings took place between September 2014 and April 2015, i.e. Subcommittee on Economic and Financial issues and statistics, Subcommittee on Trade Industry Customs and Taxation, Subcommittee on Innovation, Information Society and Social Policy, Subcommittee on Agriculture and Fisheries, Subcommittee on Internal Market and Competition, Subcommittee on Transport, Energy, Environment and Regional Development, and Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security. The Ministry of European Integration coordinated two Peer Review missions on Independent Institutions, which took place from 8 to 10 September 2014, and from 1 to 3 October 2014. To follow up on these two peer missions, a workshop on the independence of these institutions was held on February 3rd 2015. The conclusions of this workshop will serve as a guide to strengthen the independence and performance of these institutions. Specific attention has been paid to the approximation of Albanian legislation. Council of Ministers approved some changes and amendments to the Decision No. 584 of 28 August 2003 “On the rule of procedures of Council of Ministers”. These new amendments strengthen the role of the Ministry of European Integration. Compliance checking now covers not only project decision of CoM and project laws but also project acts of Ministers, which aims to approximate Albanian law with EU legislation. In addition the model of tables of concordance developed by the European Commission is compulsory. Revised Decision No 584 requires preparation of tables of concordance in Albanian and in English. IPA 2014 will start its implementation of the actions after signing the Financing Agreement (EC - Albanian Government). Regarding, IPA 2015 and IPA 2016 program are in preparation and the priorities are set. Under public administration reform and employment sector are ready to receive sector support budget from IPA 2015. As regard to IPA 2016, it will focus on water management, rule of law and fundamental rights, transport and agriculture sectors. The Sector Planning Documents (SPD) for IPA 2016 are expected to be finalized by June 2015. With reference to decentralized management for IPA 2013 Programme, the Financing Agreement between the Government of Albania and EC has been signed on November 2014.The 7 projects under this agreement have started implementation and are on the following stage: For 6 out 7 projects, attributed to Albanian Authorities for implementation under IPA 2013, procurement procedures are launched. Regarding Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), during the 13th Round of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), Albania submitted to the WBIF Secretariat two applications within the set deadline (20th of February 2015). Both applications are focused to the transport sector, more specifically to the railway sub-sector: (i) Pre-feasibility Study and Traffic Modelling for new Railway line Albania – Kosovo (ii) Feasibility Study for the rehabilitation of the railway line Durrësi – Pogradeci –Lini and new rail line link to border with FYROM-Albania. Regarding regional and horizontal program IPA Multi-beneficiary, the Commission has sent for comments the package with projects of IPA 2015 programming. Comments from Albanian institutions are sent to Commission for further consideration. With regard to IPA Cross Border Cooperation (CBC), the Ministry of European Integration has continued its work for the preparation of programming of the new CBC Programmes under the new financial perspective IPA 2014-2020. The European Commission has adopted the following programmes: Montenegro-Albania; Albania-Kosovo and FYROM-Albania. As regards to the CBC Programme with Greece and the three Transnational Programmes (Adriatic-Ionian, MED, Balkan-Med), the draft documents of the programmes were submitted to the European Commission, during January-March 2015. Regarding Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme, the drafting process is on-going. Local government The programme of the Government of Albania explicitly stated its goal to reform the administrative-territorial organization of the country. The result of the reform was the adoption of the Law No 115/2014 of 31.07.2014 “On the administrative and territorial division of the local government units in the Republic of Albania”. According to the new legal framework, Albania will be divided in 12 regions and 61 municipalities. The new law will be applied in the 2015 local elections to be held on 21 June, from which, 61 mayors and 61 municipal council (first level of local government) and 12 regional councils (second level of local government) will be elected. Following entry into force of new law on administrative-territorial organization the main challenges that central governments agencies and local governments units face is the implementation phase of the territorial reform. The implementation phase is divided in the transition phase and consolidation phase. The objective of transition phase is to guarantee smooth transfer from the old territorial division of the country with 373 local government units (LGUs) to 61 newly established municipalities. The transition phase includes the process of stocktaking/inventory of liabilities, financial assets, immovable properties, human resources, drafting of appropriate legal framework and guidelines for the new administrative structure at local level, piloting a “one stop shop” scheme with ICT solutions for all administrative services at local level, drafting the guidelines for the new administrative structure at local level, drafting social-economic development profile for selected new municipalities. The transition phase will be completed in 2015. To support the implementation phase of the territorial reform, the Government established on 28 January 2015 the National Agency for the Implementation of the Territorial Reform. This newly established agency supports all steps of the transition and consolidation process. On 2 April 2015, the Parliament of Albania approved the amendments to the Law no.8652 “On the organization and functioning of the local self-government units” which provide the base for functioning of the newly set 61 municipalities after local elections. The main changes into the Law are described as follows:
The MoSLI through the donor-funded STAR project has been supporting all the efforts to properly manage the implementation phase of the territorial reform. In the framework of STAR project, two pilot municipalities were selected (Pogradeci and Ura Vajgurore) for the merger process which includes the process of stocktaking/inventory of liabilities, financial assets, immovable properties and human resources. The KPMG auditing company was selected by the STAR project to implement the amalgamation process in the two pilot municipalities and the results from this process will be then replicated in the other 59 municipalities, through issuing the appropriate legal guidelines and ordinances. Furthermore, based on the Prime Minister Order, 12 working groups were established at the regional level and 61 working groups at municipal level that will be involved directly at the merger process of the former communes into the newly established 61 municipalities. In April 2015, the MoSLI has undertaken a training process on the amalgamation process of the all 12 regional working groups and will continue the training process for the 61 municipal working groups in May 2015. Decentralization and Local Government Strategy The Minister of State on Local Issues (MoSLI) has developed a draft of the new Strategy for Decentralization and Local Government 2015-2020. The first draft was consulted with the relevant actors in October 2014. A broad consultation process has been undertaken with all stakeholders and several consultative meetings were held including 4 regional meeting with local government units. Following to this consultation process, the MoSLI has reflected the inputs and then the final draft was distributed for a second (final) round of consultations. The final draft is foreseen to be sent for approval at the Council of Ministers in May 2015. The main strategic pillars of the strategy are as follows:
The strategy is accompanied by a concrete action plan with more than 150 targeted actions. The cost of the decentralization strategy is estimated at € 66 million. Local government financing The Government of Albania has continued its efforts to increase the financing of the local government units. The state budget for 2015 foresees that in total the local government budget to GDP ratio will reach 2.7%. Related to the GDP share of the local government budget, it has increase from 2.1% in 2013 to 2.4% of GDP in 2014. Here is included the Regional Development Fund which is an investment instrument for local government projects. For year 2015, the investments by means of this instrument are planned to reach about 100 million Euro. 1.4 Public administration reform Strategic framework of public administration reform- DAP
Public Administration Reform is one of the priorities of the Albanian Government, and in this context after an intensive and comprehensive process the Cross-cutting Strategy of Public Administration Reform was approved on 15 April 2015 by means of Decision No. 319 of the Council of Ministers.
PAR strategy has clear links with other important strategies such as Digital Albania, Strategy of Anti-Corruption and Decentralization Strategy. PAR strategy concerns the public administration as a whole, including local governance. With regards to the consultation procedure the strategy and the action plan was sent officially by the Minister of State for Innovation and Public Administration for opinion to all line ministries and independent institutions. Two consultative roundtables were organised. The first consultative roundtable took place on 18 March 2015with representatives from public institutions, academia, local government and civil society in attendance. The second roundtable aimed at donors was held on 25 March 2015. A special consultation was also organized in cooperation with UN Women on 7 April 2015, focusing on gender equality in the view of the PAR Strategy. In conclusion, the comments and suggestions received were discussed with the Technical Working Group responsible for drafting the Strategy and reflected accordingly.
PAR strategy has a detailed action plan with cost activities, time frame of the implementation of the actions and clearly defined responsible institutions for the implementation of each measure. DoPA is working closely with the Ministry of Finance and the involved institutions to make sure that the needed financing will be foreseen in the MTBP for 2016-2018.
As foreseen in the CoM Decision the implementation of the Strategy will start immediately after its publication in the Official Journal. The Department of Public Administration at the administrative level will monitor implementation of the Strategy. The whole process will be managed and monitored at political level by the Minister responsible for Innovation and Public Administration. The Inter-Institutional Group (political level) for the Cross-Cutting Public Administration Reform Strategy as established upon the order of the Prime Minister No. 180, dated 19 June 2014 will permanently monitor the implementation of the public administration strategy and reform. Every three months the responsible institutions for the implementation of the activities detailed in the action plan will report to DoPA, where the meeting of the technical level group will be held periodically. It is foreseen in the strategy that within 3 months from its adoption, a unified reporting methodology will be prepared for all institutions.
In relation to the financial costs, currently the Medium Term Budget Planning 2016-2018 is in the programming stage and DoPA has started the cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, and other relevant institutions with the aim to include the financial needs or the implementation of the activities in the MTBP 2016 - 2018. Directory: files -> documents files files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations documents files -> Report: Shelter Support Mission to Afghanistan documents files -> Information and Communication Technologies for Reconstruction and Development Afghanistan Challenges and Opportunities documents files -> Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination in Emergencies: Towards a Predictable Model documents files -> Rapid Education Needs Assessment Report documents files -> H Report of a Workshop on Coordinating Regional Capacity Building on Gender Responsive Humanitarian Action in Asia-Pacific documents files -> Arizona Department of Administration Risk Management Statewide Motor Vehicle Safety Policy Download 3.84 Mb. Share with your friends:
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