EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group concludes a visit to Albania

Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law

On 2-3 April 2025, the Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law (FRRL) Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) concluded a two-day visit to Tirana.

This visit gave the opportunity to the group of five EESC Members to hear civil society representatives about key trends in Albania concerning fundamental rights of social partners, freedoms of association and assembly, freedom of expression (including media freedom), the right to non-discrimination, and the rule of law.

Participants in the discussions emphasised:

  • Social partners' concerns about the ineffectiveness of the National Labour Council and social dialogue, and the need for capacity-building for both trade unions and employer organisations.
  • Civil society organizations’ lack of resources, and concerns about impending withdrawal of several important donors. CSOs did not feel effective participation in consultations and that their contributions were sufficiently heard while also struggling to meet to all the requests for input.  
  • Media professionals’ found concentration of media ownership, as well as politicalisation of the media problematic. This coupled with poor working conditions for journalist meant self-censorship and pressure on journalist risked compromising critical reporting. SLAPPs was also an issue.
  • Despite a good legal framework implementation was lacking. Women and LGBTIQ+ organisations were subject to increasing online harassment and hate speech, and violence against women a significant problem. Problems mentioned were lack of physical and information accessibility for persons with disability and major lack of services at municipal level for vulnerable groups. Roma children faced school segregation.   
  • despite advance in the fight against corruption, it remained an issue. Justice reform still needed to be better implemented, with the most pressing concern being the excessive delays in the justice system, with judgments only rendered 10 years later. 

The EESC delegation also discussed with the representation of the European Commission and the authorities of Albania.

A report will be issued in the coming months.

The visit was the first one of the FRRL Group to Albania.

Background

The EESC established in 2018 a Group on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law (FRRL Group), which is tasked to provide a forum for European civil society organisations to meet and discuss fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. The FRRL Group promotes respect for the European values listed in Article 2 TEU by raising awareness of and assessing the state of play of these values in the Member States and allowing for the exchange of good practices. To this end, the FRRL Group hosts hearings, conferences, and carries out country visits with the aim of identifying trends in Europe concerning fundamental rights and the rule of law, inasmuch as they develop in national contexts.

Country visit reports are issued along with the observations of the authorities, a few months after the visits (they can be accessed here). The visit to Albania was the eighth one of the second cycle of visits of the FRRL Group to all EU Member States and candidate countries. The Report synthesising the first cycle of country visits (2018-2024) led in 2018-2019,  2020-2021, 2022, and 2023-2024 are available.

For more information about the EESC FRRL Group methodology, see this document.

The delegation of the FRRL Group to Albania was composed of: