Honorable President Frattini,

Dear Participants, members of the ACA-Europe,

I am honored and pleased to be here in Rome to attend the General Assembly of the ACA-Europe. Please let me express my profound gratitude and appreciation towards ACA Europe regarding the decision of its Board and towards all members, as well as to the Italian Presidency for accepting the candidacy of the Albanian Supreme Court to join the ACA-Europe as an observer.

The administrative jurisdiction as a separate legal and judicial discipline is new in Albania, since 2013. There are three instances, with Administrative College at Supreme Court as the last and final instance. Since its foundation the administrative adjudication has faced some difficulties to set the standards of administrative jurisdiction and its limitations compared to the civil one. Several legal reforms have also taken place introducing new mechanisms to prevent the court backlog and to ensure effective remedies against violations committed by public institutions.

The widest and biggest judicial reform since the ’90 was that of 2016, which brought a renewal of the most judicial institutions, including the Supreme Court. Currently, the Supreme Court is facing a very serious case backlog waiting for years to be adjudicated; most of them are administrative cases. Some measures are already taken to reduce the backlog, further mechanisms have to be followed in order to achieve better results.

For all the above-mentioned reasons, I strongly believe that being part of this professional association of the most prominent administrative adjudication bodies in the EU will positively affect our efforts not only to substantially improve court’s decision-making, but also to learn from better practices, in order to provide an effective administrative adjudication in Albania. It is imperative for our European future to follow the best examples in the EU.

Therefore I am grateful and privileged for the valuable and outstanding opportunity being provided to the Supreme Court of Albania in benefiting from the enriching dialogue among the Supreme Administrative Courts in the European legal space. We reiterate the commitment from our side to strengthen and diversifying our new partnership through the participation at the forthcoming events, exchanges and through continued judicial cooperation.

Lastly, please let me extend my recognition to ACA Europe and Italian Council of State, for the efforts concerning the excellent organization of the General Assembly and Seminar.

Thank you!