Judicial Reform in AlbaniaChallenges and Opportunities Toward the EU

Abstract

This study examines the judicial system in Albania in accordance with the EU standards, and its challenges, mainly corruption as an issue of political character and the necessity to implement a new draft reform in judicial system. It discovered that a corrupted, inefficient judiciary has existed for many years in Albania and recently the Albanian authorities, in cooperation with European Union and other international actors, are trying to finalize the creating the new draft reform. The thesis briefly points some of the reasons behind this issue, as political influence on the judicial system, lack of efficiency in the organization of the courts and loss of the trust in the judges and prosecutors in the country. It also analyses about the objectives of the new draft reform and further recommendations from the EU in the fight against corruption. This study finds that new draft reform faces difficulty to be implemented since most of the politicians and other judicial officials are part of the corrupted cases and this prevents the progression of the judicial system and results the deterioration of the standard of living in the country.