08/11/2021
Albania intensifies its efforts to combat corruption and organised crime. Efforts that are part of the process of accession to the European Union
To this end, EU4FOCAL, a cooperation project funded by the European Union and led by FIIAPP, has held its first steering committee. “The intention of the project is to strengthen Albanian institutions involved in combating organised crime. We work, among others, with the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Albanian police and the Financial Intelligence Unit,” explains the Spanish police officer and head of the project, Óscar Ruiz.
EU4FOCAL began in early March 2021 and its implementation is scheduled until May 2024. After its first 9 months of operation, the project presented its first technical report to the steering committee, summarising the main strategic lines of action, as well as the work plan with the activities planned for the next six months.
This committee is chaired by the Delegation of the European Union, the Albanian Ministry of Interior and the FIIAPP, with the participation of the Albanian partner institutions as well as the international partners of the consortium.
During the meeting, the Albanian Ministry of the Interior, represented by Deputy Minister Besfort Lamallari, stressed the value of EU4FOCAL as an instrument to strengthen the technical capacities of Albanian police entities in the fight against corruption.
Likewise, Pranvera Pustina, Chief of Staff at the Albanian State Attorney General’s Office, stressed the importance of incorporating the European Union’s best practices in the field of legislation and investigation by using the project to strengthen the capacities of the Albanian prosecutor’s office in the investigation of money laundering.
EU4FOCAL is a project whose implementation is led by FIIAPP and which has the collaboration of the Consiglio de la Magistratura of Italy, the Italian Guarda de Finanza, as well as the National Police of the Netherlands.
