On Wednesday 9 October, the European Commission signed two agreements with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia on the implementation of the Action Plan against Terrorism for the Western Balkans, signed in 2018. These implementation agreements have been signed by the European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos, and the Albanian and North Macedonian Interior Ministers, Sandër Lleshaj and Oliver Spasovski.
The aim of these agreements is to identify specific actions for 2019 and 2020, the European Commission said in a statement. For Albania, the focus will be on extremism, anti-money laundering legislation, and the fight against terrorist financing or arms trafficking.
For the Republic of North Macedonia, this will involve strengthening anti-terrorism structures, preventing the return of foreign combatants, and defining a national impact study on the various risks associated with money laundering.
While some Member States are complaining that they experience difficulties with Albania—in particular regarding organised crime and unfounded asylum applications from Albanians or "holders of Albanian passports", the Interior Minister said—the Commissioner acknowledged that organised crime "remains a concern, but in recent years we have seen a greater number of operations targeting this organised crime". Dimitris Avramoupoulos also noted the "good cooperation" between the EU candidate country and the Member States.
As for unfounded asylum claims originating from Albania, the Commissioner acknowledged a "slight increase” in the first half of 2019 and invited the country to continue with the Commission's recommendations in this area. However, he reiterated that the conditions to suspend the country's visa liberalisation regime were currently "not met", contrary to what the Netherlands had asked him. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)