EU4LEA project is funded by the European Commission under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance II (IPA II). The project started its implementation on 1st June 2022 and is expected to last 24 (twenty-four) months. The Overall Objective of the project is to contribute to the strengthening of the rule of law in Albania
EU4LEA is designed as an EU technical assistance project to support and assist key Albanian law enforcement agencies, in particular, key Albanian law-enforcement agencies, namely, Albanian State Police, Ministry of Interior, SPAK (SPO and NBI), General Prosecution Office, including District Prosecution Offices (POs), in achieving their objectives and bringing their performance closer to the EU standards.
The European Union Contribution Agreement IPA/2022/432998, for the implementation of EU4LEA project was awarded by the Delegation of European Union to Albania to the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Italy, as the lead partner. Federal Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Austria and FIIAPP- Spain ‘’The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies’’ are the other two implementing partners of the project.
The main beneficiaries of EU4LEA assistance are the Ministry of Interior, Albanian State Police, SPAK (SPO and NBI), General Prosecution Office, and District Prosecution Offices. Secondary beneficiaries include Albanian FIU, Customs and Tax authorities, HIDAACI, AASCA, Ministry of Justice, etc. The final beneficiaries are the Albanian citizens.
In order to create synergies and avoid overlapping, EU4LEA will establish and maintain close cooperation with other EU funded projects in the area of rule of law and other internationally funded programmes.
EU4LEA project has two specific objectives. First objective is to improve the performance of Albanian State Police (ASP), SPAK (SPO & NBI), the General Prosecutor Office/PO and relevant agencies in the fight against serious/ organised crime, high-level corruption and environmental crime. Second objective is to improve national Integrated Border Management (IBM).
In order to meet the set objectives, the focus of the project will be both at the central and local levels, integrating among the beneficiaries the regional police directorates and district prosecution offices, as well in addressing challenges in the investigation and prosecution of organised crime, illicit trafficking, high-level corruption & environmental crime, crime prevention capacity through community policing, capacity building on planning, organisation & management of human, financial & technical resources, interagency coordination for effective international cooperation in line with national Integrated Border Management policies. The project will design and implement tailor-made training courses, including on-the job-training and capacity development assistance, which will bring together police, prosecutors, local government and other stakeholders in order to improve further their coordination and cooperation.
In addition, various types of activities are foreseen, such as, trainings/workshops, practical simulation exercises at central and local level, advisory support both technical and strategic, legal assessments/analysis, compilations of relevant EU acquis, wide range of study visits to EU/EU MS agencies, review/monitoring of criminal cases, site visits, etc.
