The UK Prime Minister has given me the responsibility of fostering closer ties between the UK and the six Western Balkan nations through increased trade and investment, improved energy security, cross-cultural cooperation, security and defence, and joint efforts to combat organised crime.
I frequently visit the nations in the region, and I recently came back from Tirana, Skopje, and Podgorica, where I heard one message from people from all walks of life loud and clear: young people are leaving, driven out by a lack of opportunities, the belief that they cannot succeed without political connections, and frustrated by ingrained corruption.
They want us to support their efforts to improve society and to hold their government officials accountable.
To create wealthy, secure democracies, institutions, civil society, journalists, and criminal justice professionals are all working together.
The majority of the real work will be done on the ground in the Western Balkans by sincere prosecutors, brave journalists, committed police, and forward-thinking leaders.
We have a tailwind for change in Albania thanks to the Special Anti-Corruption Agency (SPAK), the National Bureau for Investigation (NBI), and the judicial reform.
You have the support of the UK in this effort.
There has been advancement. Some individuals who believed they were immune in the past are now incarcerated.
Others, however, continue to act as though they are immune from consequences for their crimes and that not everyone is treated equally by the law.
So, both globally and in the Western Balkans, we are speeding up our efforts to sever ties between politics, business, and criminal activity.
Since the inception of our global anti-corruption sanctions programme, 27 people involved in significant wrongdoing have been named.
Under the Economic Crime Act, a new Register of Overseas Entities will be established, requiring the disclosure of identities of persons behind foreign corporations that possess property in the UK.
Additionally, we’ve created a brand-new “Kleptocracy Cell” within the National Crime Agency to focus on corrupt Russian assets hidden in the UK and the evasion of sanctions.
We took obstructive action this week against a number of Albanians who had linkages to crime and corruption that had been well reported and documented.
This is the beginning of a series of initiatives meant to promote accountability and put an end to impunity.
The UK has a variety of instruments at its disposal, such as immigration and economic disruption, to thwart people with connections to crime and corruption.
Sometimes the specifics of these activities aren’t made public.
The voice of the Albanian people is muffled by the assistance that some public officials obtain from criminals in exchange for their corruption.
Vote-buying and the wrongful use of public funds remain serious issues in Albanian politics, as evidenced by the OSCE’s report on international monitoring of the country’s parliamentary elections last year.
Albania’s democracy will continue to be precarious and unfinished as long as politicians can collude with criminals to purchase, blackmail, and frighten voters.
Now is the time for additional transformation and election reform.
Massive sums of state money taken from regular taxpaying citizens never make it to the Albanian people’s essential schools, hospitals, and roads because of organised crime and corruption in the country and the surrounding area.
These things are necessary for Albanians to build a stable, prosperous society.
I also have a message for all of you who are working for reform in Albania and the surrounding area: we will support you in your judicial reforms, which have assisted in rooting out corrupt officials and resulting in the conviction of influential individuals.
We will aid you in all of your initiatives for openness, responsibility, and democracy as you alter your elections.
We’ll support increasing civic participation in holding the government accountable.
We applaud the courageous investigative journalists who, frequently in the face of threats and intimidation from criminals, have uncovered corruption and connections between politicians, business, and crime.
With the full backing of people who value freedom, as well as the protection of governments and law enforcement, they must continue to do so.
On your quest to create the state that your people deserve, we are at your side.
The Western Balkans or anywhere else, encouraging crime or corruption will not go unpunished, and you will not be welcomed in the UK, is the message the UK is sending to individuals who are involved in these activities.
Those who act in this way harm both their state and society.
The UK will take steps to eradicate corruption and organised crime, whether through sanctions, immigration policy changes, or non-engagement strategies.
We shall work together to ensure that no one is exempt from the law.