Final Report - European Commission - Europa

42
Evaluation of EC Country Strategy: Albania
The difficulty of institutional reform
It is important to note that the above analysis also reflects the great difficulties of implementing
institutional reform, which are common to all donors. For example, a recent World Bank evaluation
found little success in most of their civil service reform interventions 75 . Similarly, a recent analysis of
the Stability Pact noted: “While institution-building is now recognised as a critical component of
international aid, it is becoming increasingly apparent how difficult it is to accomplish lasting and
effective reform of domestic institutions through program aid. Among evaluations of international
programs across a range of sectors, a common theme is the disappointing results of institution-building.
There is ample evidence to suggest that most current modes of international assistance are not targeting
the problem effectively.” 76
B. Strengthening Civil Society
Despite the importance of strengthening civil society to the EU’s overall objectives,
the EC did not have a strategy on how to involve and support civil society in its
programmes, and its public profile remained low.
Importance of civil society in Albania
The development of civil society is of central importance in Albania. Indeed, it is an
indispensable complement to – and component of - the institutional and public administration
reform efforts described above. As the World Bank put it in its recent strategy document:
“Social cohesion...is an important underpinning of economic development and poverty alleviation.
Building social cohesion in Albania requires complementary efforts to improve the effectiveness and
accountability of Government and to build on existing social capital at the community level.” 77
Developing civil society could make a substantial contribution to improving the limited
impact of EU programmes:
• pressure from NGOs and independent media to reduce human rights abuses by police
and the politicisation of the judiciary could make a substantial contribution to the
success of the EC strategy in the justice and home affairs sector – where a major
constraint is the lack of political will. At present, EC strategy in this sector has
ignored the essential contribution of public awareness and participation to reform;
• greater public outrage at corruption would provide a major spur to public
administration reform, as well as improving the likelihood of success in
implementing infrastructure projects;
75
76
77
Civil Service Reform: A Review of World Bank Assistance, Operations Evaluation
Department. World Bank. 1999. See also, Caruthers, T (1999). Aid Democracy Abroad,
Carnegie Endowment, Washington DC.
European Stability Initiative, Brussels Discussion Paper, Stability, Institutions and European
Integration, 31 October 2000.
World Bank, Country Assistance Strategy.