The 7th meeting of the Public Administration Reform Special Group for Albania took place on 27 September 2017 in Tirana. The meeting was co-chaired by Mrs. Senida Mesi, Deputy Prime Minister, and Mrs. Michela Matuella, Head of Unit for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Commission.
The Albanian authorities provided an update of the main developments focusing on civil service reform implementation, policy planning and coordination, service delivery and accountability as well as decentralisation and local governance. They also presented the plan of ministerial restructuring and reorganisation of public administration aiming to increase effectiveness of service delivery.
The European Commission welcomed the further progress in implementing Public Administration and Public Finance Management reforms, supported by € 11 million of EU funds approved for disbursement in July 2017. The Commission further encouraged the government to maintain the good pace of reform implementation. It also underlined the importance of ensuring that the envisaged reorganisation is conducted in compliance with the civil service law. The Commission also emphasised the need to improve the mechanisms for policy planning, and to align budgeting with strategic planning.
Reform of public administration is one of the five key priorities for the opening of the EU accession negotiations. The PAR Special Group is the main policy dialogue forum where the Commission together with Albanian government institutions and independent institutions discuss the progress in implementation of the reforms of public administration, decentralisation and public finance management.