"Albania, a functional architecture for transparency" - Rama: Defamation is criminally punishable, but we will remove the criminal aspect for journalists
The 7th National Conference on the Right to Information was held, which served as a national platform for dialogue on the challenges of institutional transparency within the framework of the European integration process, emphasizing the supervisory role of the Commissioner, the responsibility of public institutions and strengthening accountability to citizens.
During his speech, Prime Minister Rama stated that Albania now has a functional and sustainable architecture for transparency.
"I don't want to go into detail because then we'll be disappointed if I talk about freedom of expression and these other claims in this case, but I want to say that in the meantime we have also made another commitment that shows the opposite of what is said by the glass half empty, to decriminalize defamation of journalists. It's not that there has been any journalist criminally hit by government lawsuits in all these years, nor have there actually been any lawsuits against journalists because we have banned all lawsuits for many years, but this is not listed among the reasons to feel free and to feel light-handed in the work of the glass half empty, in any case we will take this next step. A step that goes towards further relaxing the situation of journalists as a whole, although I personally do not believe that the problem here is freedom of expression, the problem here is in fact freedom of defamation, but I said this is a topic not for this table and I don't want to break the glass now."
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection, Besnik Dervishi, emphasized that transparency constitutes one of the fundamental pillars of good governance and is an essential element for building trust between institutions and the public.
“Transparency constitutes a fundamental pillar of good governance, it is a constitutional right for citizens, an obligation for public officials and a work culture that promotes integrity in every link of public administration. The European Commission’s 2025 report highlights that the law on the right to information is in line with EU standards, but its implementation in practice is still unstable.”
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