Resolution 1219 (2000)^[1]

Honouring of obligations and commitments by Albania

1. The Parliamentary Assembly commends the Albanian authorities and the Albanian population on their self-control and restraint during the Kosovo conflict, their hospitality towards the refugees and their co-operation with the international community. 

2. After years of political instability, characterised by the failure to draft a new constitution and by non-participation of the opposition in the parliamentary process, Albania has made substantial progress in the honouring of its obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe: 

1. notwithstanding an extremely serious economic and social crisis in 1997 and the dramatic consequences of the Kosovo conflict in 1999, Albania is establishing the rule of law all over its territory: 

1. it has taken measures to ensure security in all regions; 

2. it has re-organised the judiciary and the police; 

3. it is fighting organised crime and corruption; 

2. Albania has introduced an appropriate electoral system based on a new electoral law which was elaborated with the assistance of OSCE and Council of Europe experts, and which meets the conditions of a pluralist democracy; 

3. it has signed and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Protocols Nos. 1, 2, 4, 7 and 11; 

4. it has approved by referendum a new constitution in accordance with Council of Europe principles and values; 

5. it has signed Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights on abolition of the death penalty; 

6. it has signed and ratified the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Convention on Extradition, the European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe and the European Charter of Local Self Government; 

7. it has adopted a law on electronic media; 

8. it has adopted and implemented a law on the organisation of justice; 

9. it has made substantial peaceful contributions to the settlement of the Kosovo conflict;  

10. it has fully co-operated in the monitoring procedure. 

3. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that after two periods where parliament was boycotted by the main opposition parties (September 1997 to January 1998 and July 1998 to July 1999), pluralist democracy is functioning again with the return to parliament of the Democratic Party. The Assembly welcomes this return and urges the Democratic Party to fill the seats which have been assigned to the opposition in Albanian institutions, such as the Ad hoc Committee on the Stability Pact, the Civil Service Commission and the National Council for Radio and Television. 

4. The Parliamentary Assembly calls on all political forces in Albania to work together to consolidate these achievements, to intensify and secure the political dialogue and to ensure implementation of the provisions in the conventions which Albania has ratified and in the legislative texts which have been adopted. 

5. On the other hand, the Parliamentary Assembly observes that the Albanian authorities have set in motion a number of procedures:  

1. ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights on the abolition of the death penalty;

2. adoption and subsequent implementation of the draft law on the press;

3. elaboration of a law on the organisation of the Office of the Prosecutor General;

4. ratification of the European Social Charter, signed on 21 September 1998, and the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, signed on 4 April 2000;

5. examination with a view to ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. 

6. The Parliamentary Assembly encourages the Albanian authorities to accelerate these procedures and conclude them successfully: the death penalty must be removed from Albanian legislation, the bills before parliament must be examined, voted and implemented and the conventions must be ratified. 

7. In order to provide further assistance and advice in this process of consolidation of democratic stability and development of civil society, and to help Albania complete the honouring of its obligations and commitments, the Parliamentary Assembly has decided to follow closely further developments in Albania, including the status of minorities and implementation of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe. 

8. The Parliamentary Assembly is in particular concerned that the forthcoming local and general elections in Albania, respectively foreseen for October 2000 and June 2001, will be held in accordance with the new Electoral Law, that they will be fair and free and that their results will be accepted by all political parties. 

9. It is in the light of these elections and of further legislative and administrative measures taken in the framework of the monitoring procedure, that the Parliamentary Assembly will be able to decide whether Albania can be considered as having honoured its obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe. 

10. The Assembly resolves to hold a debate on the issue after the parliamentary elections in Albania foreseen for June 2001.

[1] Assembly debate on 28 June 2000 (20th Sitting) (see Doc. 8771, report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe, rapporteurs: MM. Smorawinski and Solé Tura).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 28 June 2000 (20th Sitting).