Key Reflections from the Policy Dialogue
As Albania advances in the EU accession process through the opening of all negotiation clusters and the implementation of the Reform and Growth Facility (RGF), the country faces an increasingly complex legislative agenda. In this context, ensuring legislative quality, transparency, and inclusiveness is becoming as important as the pace of alignment with the European Union.
On 6 May 2026, the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Albania, convened a high-level policy dialogue with representatives from the Parliament of Albania, civil society, and international partners to discuss how Albania can balance accelerated EU-related reforms with democratic legitimacy, parliamentary scrutiny, and meaningful stakeholder participation. The discussion emphasised that EU integration should serve not only as a technical process of harmonisation, but also as an opportunity to strengthen democratic governance and public trust.
Key Takeaways:
Legislative Efficiency Should Not Undermine Democratic Standards
Participants, including the EU Ambassador and the Ambassador of Sweden in Albania, as well as international partners’ representatives, raised concerns regarding the broad use of expedited procedures for EU-related legislation. While accelerated procedures may be justified in specific cases, their systematic use risks weakening parliamentary scrutiny, transparency, and meaningful public participation, thereby affecting both the quality and sustainability of reforms.
Discussions also noted that the broad use of fast-tracking procedures risks conflicting with European standards on transparency and parliamentary oversight. Experiences from the Western Balkans show that while countries such as Serbia and Montenegro make use of expedited procedures, these are generally accompanied by requirements for specific justification and procedural safeguards. At the same time, practices from EU member states such as Croatia and Slovakia demonstrate that excessive reliance on fast-tracking may weaken parliamentary oversight and gradually limit meaningful stakeholder participation.
In this context, participants stressed the importance of reinforcing standard legislative procedures as the primary approach for acquis-related legislation, while also exploring safeguard mechanisms that would allow draft laws to revert to ordinary procedures when concerns related to transparency, public consultation, or legislative impact arise.
Strengthening Early and Meaningful Engagement of Civil Society
The dialogue underscored the importance of involving civil society organisations and interest groups at earlier stages of the legislative cycle, particularly during evidence-gathering and policy-development processes, rather than only during the final consultation phase. Participants emphasised that meaningful participation requires moving beyond formal consultation procedures towards more structured, inclusive, and evidence-informed engagement mechanisms.
In this context, discussions highlighted the need to promote evidence-based lawmaking through early stakeholder engagement, as well as the importance of strengthening the traceability of public input in order to ensure greater transparency, accountability, and public trust throughout the legislative process.
Prepared by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM)
This policy dialogue was organised within the framework of the “GoEthics 2.0 – Governance, Ethics & Integrity” project, with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Albania