TIRANA, March 25 /ATA/ The Parliament of Albania and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy held on Monday the activity “Enhancing the role of legislation and oversight of the Parliament in Albania.”
This activity launched two new mechanisms of the Assembly’s activity: post-legislative control and preliminary assessment of the risk of corruption in legislation.
The development of these models has been funded by the UK, drawing on the expertise of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and is based on international and UK best practice in parliamentary control and the fight against corruption.
Members of the Advisory Group of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, former Labor MP John Grogan and former Scottish National Party MP Stephen Gethins, participated and contributed to this event.
Also, in attendance of the event was the United Kingdom ambassador, Alastair King-Smith who delivered his greeting remarks.
The event was opened by Valbona Kuko, director of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy for Albania.
In her remarks, Parliament Speaker, Lindita Nikolla, underlined that, “this activity is a testimony to increased parliamentary cooperation between the Assembly of Albania and the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is a strategic partner for Albania and is providing great political, technical and financial support, as well as strengthening legislative control and other functions of the Assembly.”
“I am here today, not only to express appreciation and gratitude, but also to clearly articulate the commitment, political support and priority that the Assembly of Albania gives to parliamentary control and the fight against corruption,” said Nikolla.
“Supporting the parliamentary fight against corruption is very meaningful at present, because it is high on the agenda of the Assembly, the Government, institutions, international partners and above all it is relevant for the Albanian citizens”, she emphasized.
“These two new instruments: Post-Legislative Control and Preventive Evaluation of Corruption are important to ensure parliamentary transparency and inclusiveness as well as consultation with civil society. Both of these mechanisms narrow the asymmetry between human and institutional investments in the preparation of the legal framework and parliamentary oversight, by means of the verification of their results on the field,” Nikolla pointed out.
“Now that this work is being consolidated, it is our duty to incorporate these mechanisms into the parliamentary activity, ensure the ownership of the Assembly in their implementation, reach political consensus and enhance the efficiency of their implementation, through the synergy between the parliamentary committees and legal and technical services of the Assembly”, said Nikolla.
Jorida Tabaku, chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration, making reference to the concrete experience of reviewing the law on tourism, underlined that, “we can increase the authority of the parliament, by exercising corruption- proof control. This should be done as an integral part of our work, increasing the capacities of the Assembly. It is needed political will for implementation of all the recommendations we give. It is time for this process to be extended to all parliamentary committees, to become a working methodology and be streamlined in the committees’ daily schedule.”
