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EC progress report on Albania/ Vuksani: Agriculture and food security at catastrophic level

2025-11-28 17:33:00, Aktualitet CNA

EC progress report on Albania/ Vuksani: Agriculture and food security at

The Head of the Department of Agriculture in the Democratic Party, Gjok Vuksani, spoke about the EC's progress report on Albania. Vuksani stated that the two chapters on agriculture and food safety are the ones that are most poorly discussed.

In a connection with Syri Tv, he said that the report emphasizes that there are no support schemes for farmers, they are not in line with those of the European Union. Vuksani further stated that the report also mentions corruption, especially in the Payments Agency, which according to him must be addressed and improved, so that EC funds can be entrusted to it. He further mentioned that as a result of abuses, IPARD III funds, which would help Albanian agriculture and farmers, are also missing.

Regarding food safety, Vuksani said that the European Commission report questions the method, scheme and accreditation of Albanian laboratory analyses, or in short, according to him, the results of the analyses carried out in Albanian laboratories are being questioned.

"Absolutely. If you read carefully the 2025 progress report for Albania, by the European Commission, the two chapters on agriculture and food security are the most frozen; they are the chapters in which Albanian agriculture is spoken of worse than any other chapter. I will tell you two or three things quickly. It says that the approximation with European legislation has not made any progress. The progress report emphasizes that there are no support schemes for farmers, they are not in line with those of the European Union, so there are no conditions that need to be imposed.

Thirdly, the technical-professional capacities, what we have talked about so far, the human capacities, are far from fulfilling, so to speak, the basic functions. Fourthly, the extension, that is, the specialists who should be in the field to give advice to farmers, are outside their function and do not perform it. Without talking about one of the main points of this progress report, which states that corruption, especially in the Paying Agency, must be addressed and improved in such a way that it can be entrusted with European Commission funds.

Even in the conversation we had together two or three years ago, if you remember, I have repeatedly said that it takes a long time for the Payment Agency, the AZHBR, to be accredited, to become credible and, secondly, that the entire application procedure, the measures that need to be approved, the procedures and so on, will take one to two years. So, if the green light were given today for the application for IPARD III, it would take another year and a half to two years from now until it becomes accessible to Albanian farmers.

So, there is a lack of money from the state budget, but the great misfortune is that, as a result of abuses, there is also a lack of money from IPARD III, which was a fund of about 112 million euros, which would have greatly helped Albanian agriculture and farmers, regardless of how it would have been distributed. Even if it were distributed through political distribution, it would have been a relief and at least some people would have been supported.

Absolutely. I will say two things that have been said for the first time about food safety, which are very alarming, very scandalous. For the first time, the European Commission report questions the method, the scheme and the accreditation of the analyses of Albanian laboratories. Said in diplomatic language, to translate their language, they question the results of the analyses that are carried out in Albanian laboratories.

During the process, to take a sample with pesticides or heavy metals, you have to perform an analysis, and this analysis is done at ISUV, which is an accredited laboratory. The European Commission, for the first time in 30 or so years, is questioning the analyses, their methodology and results. It is stated in the lines that the analyses are old and unaccredited. So, even when you get an analysis that may be compliant, these analyses are unreliable for the European Commission.

"That is, there is nowhere worse than that. Without going into other arguments, it is said that there is no report, there is no multi-year plan, there are no capacities for border control, there is no transparency, and there is no traceability in the case of seizure of pesticide products. The issues raised by the European Commission are very big and I have told you in my statements, especially about chapter 12", he said. /CNA