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The European Commission suspended millions of euros in grants for agriculture from the IPARD program to Albania in July 2023, due to suspicions of corruption. Albania does not yet have a date for the reopening of the funds, but the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dhimitër Kote claims otherwise. In a televised appearance, Kote said the funds will be restored in 2025. The statement was refuted by the European Commission on Facts.
The Albanian authorities are set in motion to fulfill the requirements and conditions that they must fulfill in order for the country to regain the interrupted funds for agriculture from the European Commission, due to suspicions of corruption.
However, as Albania does not yet have a concrete deadline for the return of IPARD funds, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dhimitër Kote claims the opposite. During a television interview, Kote stated that the IPARD III program will be operational next year - a year which coincides with the general parliamentary elections. Perhaps, the deputy minister hints that the assessment process for the opening or not of IPARD III is normal and has nothing to do with corruption investigations.
"...For the year 2025, that scheme will be functional. Each process has its own time, because we absorbed two measures IPARD I and II. Their analysis is done and then IPARD III is announced for 2025," said Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dhimitër Kote.
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Based on this statement, Faktoje addressed a request for information to the European Commission.
Just a few hours later, the spokesman for trade and agriculture at the European Commission, Olof Gill, made it clear to Faktoja that Albania still does not have a date for opening the funds.
"Since the procedure is still ongoing, no more information can be given at the moment. As a precautionary measure, the suspension of reimbursements by the European Commission to the Albanian authorities for the expenses incurred under the IPARD 2014-2020 program will remain in force until further notice." - EC for Faktoje
Gill emphasized that the start of the implementation of the IPARD program in Albania depends on the outcome of the investigation process that is ongoing.
The Ministry of Agriculture was also forced to deny the statement of the deputy minister. In an official response to Faktoje, this institution informs that the return of the IPARD III program in Albania depends on several conditions.
"The IPARD III program, before the start of its implementation, must meet the conditions according to Article 13 of the Financial Agreement in the Partnership Framework, approved by law 65/2022." - Ministry of Agriculture.
The Albanian government must prove, among other things, that it respects the principles of sustainable financial management, transparency and non-discrimination, as well as guaranteeing the protection of the financial interests of the EU, implementing the best international practices that enable prevention, identification, reporting and correction of fraud irregularities.
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The IPARD agricultural support program offers grants in aid of the agricultural sector to all countries that are in the process of joining the European Union.
Albania is one of the five beneficiary countries of grant support. Through the IPARD II program, which was implemented during 2014 and 2020, our country benefited over 71 million euros.
But last summer, the European Commission suspended payments to Albania for IPARD II and at the same time "froze" the funds for the IPARD III program - which provided for 146 million euros of financial support for Albanian agriculture.
After this scandal, the Albanian authorities took action.
It took the responsible institutions 5 months to submit the "accountability" report to the EC. The detailed information in the report that was submitted in December 2023 is still being analyzed by the European Commission. Based on the analysis, the EC will decide on further steps.
On the other hand, abuses of IPARD funds in Albania are part of a criminal investigation that SPAK is conducting.
Based on the information gathered, we categorize the statement of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dhimitër Kote about the return of the IPARD III program in 2025 as untrue. / Prove it
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