The Institute for Political Studies (ISP) with the support of the Civil Society Program for Albania and Kosovo, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) in partnership with Partners Albania for Change and Development is implementing the project “Clean Parliament: Accountability and Transparency”. The project is to be implemented in the timeframe January 2019 – April 2020.
During the first phase of the project (1 January 2019 – 30 April 2019), ISP focused on its efforts to implement the Conflict of Interest disclosure practices and to push for the implementation of the Code of Conduct in Albania’s parliamentary activity. The main efforts of the project were directed along four main directions: training of MPs and staff, drafting and dissemination of awareness-raising brochures, media sensitization through a special spot dedicated to issues of conflict of interest, and monitoring of parliamentary activity. The goal of the ISP was, further to overcoming the stage of awareness-raising and information, to move on towards a more intensive phase of monitoring and detailed handling of suspected or alleged conflict of interest issues and cases.
Under the current political circumstances in Albania, coinciding with the present phase of the project “Clean Parliament: Accountability and Transparency”, ISP estimates that the relinquishment of MP mandates by the main opposition parties and the process of replacements that is taking place in the parliament, has pushed the application of good principles and standards to avoid conflicts of interest and to apply the Code of Conduct to the second line of priorities on the parliamentary agenda and consequently they still remain an unfinished process.
ISP estimates that in general, the Assembly and MPs have made a relative progress in relation to addressing conflict of interest cases and to applying higher standards as reflected in the Code of Conduct. However, our monitoring shows that there is still no reflection by the parliamentary groups on adopting practical rules and ethical standards within them so that MPs and decision makers can rely not on more than just external accountability mechanisms. MPs need to stimulate accountability and transparency throughout the activity of the Albanian Parliament.
The full report can you find:
