Monday, July 14, 2014

Nuland: Judiciary Albanian reform must continue
14/07/2014


Nuland: Judiciary reform must continue
The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, Victoria Nuland, declared in an interview for Top Channel that the justice reform must continue and Albania needs to clean the judiciary from corruption and corrupted judges.

Nuland spoke about the investments of the US business in Albania, mentioning the TAP project and the oil researches at sea. She also commented the declaration of Secretary Kerry for the vacancies of ambassadors.

Mrs.Nuland valued the US Ambassador, Arvizu, and declared that his comments were addressed only to the Senate, since appointments were blocked after an internal political disagreement. The interview with Mrs.Nuland was held by the News Director on Top Channel, Bledar Zaganjori.

Top Channel: Mrs. Assistant Secretary, thank you for this opportunity.

Victoria Nuland: It’s a pleasure, Bledar.

Top Channel: You met all the Albanian political actors, and the new government might have told you about their plans for reforms and European integration, and also the opposition’s complaints for a series of matters. Where should reforms focus right now? What’s the advise of the USA, if the lack of consensus blocks the reforms?

Nuland: First of all, it is great returning to Albania. Two years have passed since my last visit. I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the Albanian people for the extraordinary step that you undertook two weeks ago with the EU candidate status. I know that the entire country and all politicians have worked hard to bring Albania to this phase. It is a real confidence vote for your progress, and we are proud to be your partners in all the reforms that have been necessary for this point, and for the reforms that are laying forward. You asked me what we discussed today. One of the things that has been discussed today, was our economic relation. I would like to see more US investments and businesses here. I would like to see more cooperation between us in energy and security. There is a huge potential, and we have plenty of projects to discuss with you, from the TAP pipeline to the reforming of your current system, and the possibilities for researches at sea. Certainly, we spoke about the continuity of the judiciary reform. I was pleased to see that all political actors were unanimous for the fact that this must go on; since this is what the Albanian people expects and deserves; going against corruption, having a clean system and a transparent judiciary, and we will keep being your partners in this path.

Top Channel: Corruption has been one of the biggest difficulties for Albania in the past 23 years. As it has been publicly declared by the European Commission and the US Government for years (also by various international reports), corruption has been a huge problem for us, from the lowest and to the highest governing levels. And so far we don’t have good track records of the law implementation and punishment of officials from all levels. The problem is not only political. It also has to do with a bad functioning of our justice system. We don’t have only corrupted politicians, but also corrupted judges. What should Albania do in this case? How deep should the justice reforms be? Do you think that we need to replace and punish only the corrupted, or we should change the entire system that has not worked so far?

Nuland: Fighting corruption is a challenge for anyone, anywhere in the planet. It is a challenge even in the USA. I don’t need to tell the Albanian people that they need a cleaner and less corrupted system, and that there is still a lot to be done here. From the US point of view, what we advise to all countries and what we try to do in ours, is trying to attack corruption from various angles. It is clear that cases must be built and the corrupted people must be arrested, may them be businessmen or public officials. You need to guarantee transparency in agreements, make sure that no bribes can be taken. There are various ways to attack this problem; from the law enforcing and justice side, but there are also things like e-governance, which makes it more difficult for bribes. There is also the cultural need, the education of the population for showing zero tolerance and report corruption. This can be done through the NGO sector, through education and community support. The advise we give to other countries is to attack corruption from various sides.

Top Channel: In a recent appeal about vacancies in strategic European countries such as Hungary, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Moldavia and Albania, Secretary Kerry declared, I quote: “Without the authority of an Ambassador, we cannot have a full engagement with high officials in countries where common democratic values are in danger”. Is Albania one of these countries?

Nuland: The editorial of Secretary Kerry was addressed to the US Senate, where we have dozens of ambassadors who are waiting for a confirmation from the Senate to start their duty, but things have been delayed due to internal political battles within the Senate. What the Secretary wanted to tell the Senate is that the USA pays a price when we have absences of Ambassadors. It is clear that in Albania we have our excellent ambassador, Mr.Arvizu. It has been like this for a long time. Our ambassadors usually stay for three years. We are lucky that he was ready to stay. I think that the message the secretary wanted to convey, is that in all these countries we work for democratic development. We work in the USA, and we also work here in Albania. The things that we discussed so far, the rule of law, the judiciary reform, are part of that.

Top Channel: Now you are on a Balkan tour. What’s your view on the situation in Macedonia, where ethnic Albanians are complaining about discrimination, and where the Ochrid Agreement has not been implemented for 13 years, after the big crisis in that country?

Nuland: I will be in Macedonia this Monday. As you know, I am on a Balkan tour with a delegation from several agencies. We are visiting five countries in this trip. One of the reasons why I wanted to make sure that we would go to Skopje was because we are concerned about the increasing tensions. We have worked hard as friends of Macedonia, to help building a strong multi-ethnic society, where the rights of both communities are protected. That’s why I am waiting with interest to hear by all parties about how things are going there, and how we can help. We discussed the situation in Macedonia here in Albania and also in Montenegro. All neighboring countries are eager to help.

Top Channel: My last question comes from the friends of the US Embassy in Facebook.

Nuland: We love our Facebook friends of the US Embassy. Thank you, friends.

Top Channel: “How do the US see the future of Albania? This question comes from Arlis”

Nuland: How do we see your future? I hope you know that I am a huge fan of Albania. I have worked twice with you when I was in the NATO. Once as Deputy and then as Ambassador in the NATO, when Albania made the last move to become a NATO member. I am very confident about your country. I think that there is a huge potential here. The people are extraordinary. That’s why I wanted to return, to see what can we do more together, especially in the economic sector.

Top Channel: Thank you for this interview, Mrs. Assistant Secretary.

Nuland: Thank you. It was a pleasure.

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