Albanian Judicial Cooperation with the European Union: A Support of the Implementation of the Constitutional Reform to Ensure a Functioning Democracy

Abstract

The continuing challenge of the state of Albania with the support of the European Union in the fight against corruption and organized crime was legitimized in 2015 with a constitutional amendment within the limits of the permissible restrictions on human rights. The objective, in line with the demands of the European Union, was to fight corruption by limiting the right of persons implicated in a wide range of crimes from being elected or appointed to high state functions. The reform, delegated to the Prosecutor General’s Office, was to be implemented by creating an electronic register based on cooperation with domestic and foreign judicial authorities, especially in the European Union, considering that most of those subject to the law live outside Albania and mainly in EU countries. Starting from the digital evolution of judicial cooperation in the European Union, this serves as a tool to contribute to the rapid transmission of data for persons living in the EU and subject to the law. The reform was initiated at the EU’s request to Albania in the context of functional democracy guaranteeing the integrity of Albanian representatives. Therefore, this chapter aims to analyze how Albania can achieve functional democracy by focusing on forms of cooperation in implementing the reform while avoiding any obstacle to achieving this goal despite the fragile will of Albanian institutions.