Impacts of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance on the Rule of Law in Albania

As a candidate country for EU accession, Albania has received significant IPA funds, which have played a critical role in supporting the country’s efforts to enhance its rule of law (ROL) as part of the EU integration process. IPA funds have been directed toward key ROL areas, including judicial reform, anti-corruption measures, strengthening law enforcement, and improving access to justice. IPA-funded projects have notably supported the strengthening of judicial independence through the establishment of independent justice governance institutions and the improvement of anti-corruption frameworks with ad hoc and permanent solutions. While these initiatives have helped Albania build a more efficient, transparent, and accountable legal system in line with EU standards, challenges remain particularly as regards mitigating the impact of the vetting process on the human resources, judges and prosecutors, in the judiciary, the need for greater institutional capacity to implement the changes, and strengthening digital tools in the judiciary, including for the purpose of gathering reliable statistics to inform policy decisions. The chapter dedicated to Albania will provide an outline of IPA project support in Albania and its impact in areas such as judicial reform, technical assistance, and capacity building for justice institutions, anti-corruption, access to justice, etc. It will provide a careful analysis of the main outcomes, identified challenges in terms of their sustainability and the measurement of results, and future perspectives in the light of the recent programming of IPA support under phase III.