ACQJ editorial office
The European Commission's 2026 report evaluates Tirana's legal reforms. Beyond the congratulations, the details show that justice institutions are investigating, while political power limits the latter's effect.
At first glance, the European Commission's report on Albania, published on November 4, is a friendly document. The country has opened all negotiation clusters and fulfilled the intermediary criteria of the first cluster, the "foundations". It has provisionally closed four chapters and aims to close them all by the end of 2027. On justice and the fight against organized crime, the report gives the assessment "good progress".
But read carefully, the report describes a country where reformed institutions are exposed to unpleasant facts, while the political elite resists the consequences. Six findings best illustrate this gap between law and practice.
Investigations increase, money is not returned
The Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) is the acknowledged hero of the report. The commission says it has “demonstrated independence” and is building a sustainable precedent. During 2025, new corruption cases increased by 17.7%, and 34 proceedings went to court with 160 defendants. Ten proceedings with 13 defendants related to high-level corruption.
The figures for seized assets change the picture. In 2025, SPAK seized and confiscated assets worth a total of 45.4 million euros. Only 1.2 million euros were related to high-level corruption proceedings, while the value of the assets seized in those cases was around 100 thousand euros. Confiscation decisions fell from 20 to 8. The report calls the ratio between seized and confiscated assets “still unsatisfactory.” It adds that referrals from other institutions to SPAK remain “very few.”
For a country where public trust in justice depends on the idea that “the powerful pay,” this is a grim indicator. Indictments are increasing, but the wealth gained from corruption remains, for the most part, in the hands of its owners. The commission is calling for more final decisions in high-profile cases, not just more investigations.
toëpower and authority
The open conflict between SPAK and politics is the most sensitive part of the report. In November 2025, the special court ordered the suspension of the deputy prime minister in an investigation into violations of equal participation in public tenders. A three-month institutional deadlock followed and a government reshuffle with seven ministers in February 2026.
The Assembly then, after a long delay, voted against SPAK’s request to lift its immunity. The commission calls this a concern for “checks and balances” and “the principle of equality before the law.” The report adds that the suspension and request for immunity provoked “strong negative reactions” from the executive and legislature, including direct attacks on SPAK, noting that rhetoric discrediting the judiciary was used by both the majority and the opposition. In this deep political divide, the new institutions are not seen as neutral arbiters. They are seen as parties in a power struggle.
Governance through normative acts
The most important finding for those who follow public money is perhaps less obvious. The commission notes that the government continues to revise budgets “exclusively” through a large number of normative acts, without parliamentary scrutiny. According to the report, this practice weakens fiscal sustainability, budgetary oversight and transparency. The Fiscal Council, the independent oversight body, “remains unestablished.”
This is part of a broader picture of weakening parliamentary control. Opposition requests for investigative committees are systematically rejected, without debate. The vast majority of legal initiatives come from the Council of Ministers. Half of the government's draft laws in 2025 came outside the Government's Analytical Program, which makes the legislative process unpredictable.
The report also raises questions about the Fiscal Peace Agreement. The commission calls for it to be in line with FATF standards and advises the government to focus on improving voluntary compliance. Government revenues remain low, while public investments are “persistently not implemented” properly.
Judges without salaries...
One of the most unusual episodes of the year unfolded in relative silence. A legal and institutional conflict between the government and the Councils of Justice, over the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s ruling on judges’ salaries, has blocked judicial budgets. Judges’ salaries for August were not paid. The commission calls this “unprecedented” situation that “raises concerns about independence.”
On September 18, the Assembly approved amendments that increased salaries by 2% and released unpaid amounts. Judges' and prosecutors' associations challenged the law in the Constitutional Court, while the government launched the process for a comprehensive salary reform.
Physical security also remains a problem. The report says that the assassination of Tirana Appeals Court judge Astrit Kalaja in October 2025 did not trigger a sufficient response from the courts, state authorities, and the Councils for Guaranteeing Judicial Security.
The protest that started from a protected area
The environment chapter receives a rating of “limited progress,” and the Commission explains why. It says shortcomings in environmental governance and enforcement, including the 2024 amendments to the law on protected areas and the expansion of the law on strategic investments, led to a deterioration in nature protection and contributed to the protests that began in May 2026.
The protests began over the development of a luxury resort in the protected area of Pishë Poro–Nartë. They grew into the largest civil movement since the democratic transition, with tens of thousands of participants at their peak. Demands expanded to include transparency, accountability, the fight against corruption, the cost of living, and the lack of investment in education and health. In October, student protests led to clashes with police, damage to public and private property, and accusations of excessive violence against protesters and journalists.
SPAK also opened investigations into the project, particularly into the transfer of property titles in Zvërnec. In a separate investigation, it ordered preventive seizures and an arrest warrant for one of the landowners, suspected of involvement in a criminal group for drug trafficking and money laundering. The commission also criticized an amendment to the law on tourist ports as incompatible with European standards.
The police and their supervisor
The State Police, according to the report, remains “highly vulnerable to corruption.” The police vetting process has continued, but with limited impact. The Police Oversight Agency received over 5,500 complaints in 2025. It recommended disciplinary investigations for 108 employees and referred 444 law enforcement officers for criminal prosecution.
One detail calls into question the supervisor himself: an agency employee was found to have ties to an organized crime group. This raised doubts about the agency's own background checks on staff. Two changes of leadership within six months reinforced concerns about its stability.
The report also mentions investigations into high-level corruption in tenders for healthcare, ICT and infrastructure, sectors that the anti-corruption strategy has also identified as high-risk.
What does this mean for 2027?
The government has set a tight deadline for concluding the negotiations and the Commission recognises its commitment. But the report makes it clear: the reforms adopted are not enough without implementation. The vetting of judges and prosecutors was successful: 397 dismissals or resignations (49%), 348 confirmations (43%) and 59 terminations for reasons outside the vetting (8%). But Brussels now expects these institutions to produce final convictions, real confiscations and supervision that goes beyond decrees.
The 2027 local elections will be the first test. The commission says electoral reform is urgently needed, as OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission recommendations remain partially unimplemented. The ad hoc committee on electoral reform includes only the ruling party and the main opposition, which the report calls “regrettable.” Meanwhile, protesters who have put accountability at the center of the agenda are waiting for answers.
The question that emerges from the report is not whether Albania has the right laws. The question is whether those laws will apply equally to those who adopt them./ acqj.al
