Albania becomes a member of Eurojust, Gjonaj: Strengthens the fight against crime

  Albania is officially part of Eurojust - the European Union agency which deals with judicial cooperation in criminal matters between member states. Justice Minister Etilda Gjonaj and Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran signed today an agreement to strengthen the operational and strategic judicial cooperation between Albania and Eurojust.

This agreement makes Albania the third country in the Balkans to become part of this agency. Albania will benefit from access to Eurojust's information systems as well as the exchange of personal data and evidence between prosecutors and investigators from all over Europe.

The EU Commissioner for Justice, Summer Jouroa and the Minister of Justice of Austria, the country that holds the EU presidency, Josef Moser, attended the signing ceremony.

Speaking at the press conference following the signing of the agreement, Justice Minister Etilda Gjonaj said: "The agreement with EUROJUST will bring a qualitative improvement in the conduct of transnational investigations. Will enable to the Albanian Prosecution teams to strengthen co-operation with their colleagues from EU member states and other countries that are part of this structure, including our regional partners, Macedonia and Montenegro, will enhance the exchange of judicial information and will allow Albania to send a permanent liaison prosecutor to Eurojust at The Hague. This will contribute directly to the common results in the fight against organized crime, terrorism and corruption, enhance confidence in our investigative capacities and bring Albania closer to the European Union. "

With today's agreement, Albania will benefit from access to Eurojust's information systems, as well as the exchange of personal data and evidence between prosecutors and investigators from across Europe.

Since 2015, Albania has been involved in 33 international cross-border crime investigations, backed by Eurojust, mainly in relation to organized crime groups dealing with narcotics trafficking and crimes against life, physical inviolability and personal freedom, such as intentional murder, kidnapping and illicit trafficking in human organs.

Meanwhile, since 2017, Albania has also participated in two joint investigation teams, including one with Italy.

The formal talks on entering in a co-operation agreement began in 2016.