The agreement between the Albanian government and the UAE breach the Stabilization and Association Agreement
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By Genc Pollo
The Agreement for Economic Cooperation between Albania and the UAE was signed on 26 November 2020 in Abu Dhabi by PM and MFA Edi Rama and was incredibly swiftly ratified in Parliament seven days later; it breached several rules of procedure and critically circumvented the EU Integration Committee in charge of checking whether legislation is compatible with the European acquis. Based on this agreement the government has drafted a law, which if approved, would mandate the government to give the country's main harbor, the Durrës sea port, in concession to a named Emirati company (Symphony Invest). The draft law doesn't contain any conditions, criteria or procedure so it basically gives a carte blanche to the government.
The UAE Agreement violates the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU (2009) because it specifically says (art.6) that legislation like public procurement, state aid etc. would be not considered if both government agree on a "strategic investment". The governments then could pick any company for carrying it out. By the UAE Agreement the EU and Albanian based companies, which could be interested in this "strategic" project, are prevented from biding. This breaches an essential norm of the SAA. Further more according to the SAA (art.56) if the contracting party because of force majeure has to derogate from the SAA it can do so "only with the authorisation of the Stabilisation and Association Council and under conditions determined by the latter." This procedure has also been ignored by the Albanian government.
The opposition Democratic Party has raised concerns about the UAE Agreement and the government draft law citing problems with legality, national security and EU compliance.
Genc Pollo is fmr. Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on European Integration and fmr. Deputy PM, Minister of Education, Minister of Telecom&IT.
Tirana, Albania
The article was previously published also here.
