Albania achieved little progress in public administration reform, says EC progress report

Albania has continued to make some progress in strengthening its government structures. At the same time, it needs to further strengthen the capacity, coordination and strategic planning for EU integration, reads the European Commission’s 2009 progress report for the country.

The report stresses that little progress can be reported in the field of public administration reforms. The legal framework is largely in place throughthe civil service law but its implementation remains problematic. The strategy for public administration reform was adopted but implementation has not started, the Commission notes.

The report states that some measures were taken to improve human resource management, but the implementation of the new reward system for civil servants has been uneven. According to the paper, awareness on fraud issues among civil servants, including on the use of EU funds, is insufficient and an adequate human resource management system for public administration is needed.