FLASH
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The European Commission, through the progress report published today, highlights that Albania is not yet ready to unblock IPARD 3. In fact, according to the European Commission, the funds will be unblocked when their protection is guaranteed.
"With regard to rural development, it is necessary to increase capacity and supervision to launch the efficient delivery and implementation of IPARD III, in full compliance with the principles of sound financial management. No progress was made in aligning the legislation on quality policy with the EU acquis during the reporting period," the report states.
This position of the European Commission comes at a time when the Albanian authorities, especially the AZHBR and the Ministry of Agriculture, have abused the distribution of funds allocated to Albania to help farmers. In fact, the funds were diverted and this led to the discovery of a scandal, which is still not being concluded by the justice institutions, including SPAK.
OLAF's investigations into the IPARD program began in 2020, after citizen Romeo Nazarko filed a complaint with the Brussels anti-corruption office alleging that his project to help walnut farmers was unfairly rejected.
Romeo Nazarko, an "IPARD" applicant, says: "I submitted it to the AZHBR within the deadline and again the response was negative. And the rejection stated that you do not have an ownership document for the property, while I had one. For this reason, I explained it and submitted a notarial statement where the owner accepted that I had applied. Again, I was rejected and this long ordeal began."
This file is now part of the SPAK investigation. Even though more than two years have passed, the whistleblower Romeo Nazarko continues to wait for the real reason for the rejection by AZHBR. The blocking of European funds has had a negative impact on rural areas, hindering the development of technology and the standardization of Made in Albania products.
This whole situation led to a freeze on the fund, which has been reduced to a maximum in the last two to three years.
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