THE ALBANIAN PUBLIC'S TRUST IN SECURITY: STUMBLING BLOCKS TO EU NEGOTIATIONS 4. Chapter 23 Judiciary and fundamental rights: Albania: The challenge ahead- Balancing the speed and quality of vetting the justice system Chapter 23- Judiciary and Fundamental Rights are one of the most challenging and complex chapters that Albania is going to face. The dynamic and duration of the negotiation process in this area directly affect progress in other aspects of negotiations with the European Union. Chapter 23 is divided into four main and interrelated areas: judiciary, fight against corruption, fundamental rights, and the rights of EU citizens, which can be further subdivided into several sub-areas. The EU policies in the field of judiciary and fundamental rights aim to maintain and further develop the Union as an area of freedom, security, and justice. Furthermore, the main issue in Chapter 23 is the lack of clear-cut standards that a negotiating country needs to meet to fulfil the EU membership criteria. This becomes particularly difficult considering there is, unlike in other negotiating chapters, almost none of the so-called'hard acquis', but only the best practices of the Member States. However, the key challenges ahead for Albania in light of forthcoming negotiations will be the two most important areas such as the efforts and actions of an independent and efficient judiciary and anti-corruption results. To address such a key challenge since 2014 Albania has been deeply focused on implementing a comprehensive and thorough justice reform which is considered the priority reform on which the opening of the accession negotiations will depend. 34 It has been a comprehensive and difficult justice reform that includes the reassessment of judges and prosecutors(vetting process). In March 2018 the IQC(Independent Qualifying Commission) held its first hearing session on the vetting of the judiciary. The process began with the vetting members of the Constitutional Court. To date, investigations on 280 assessment procedures have been initiated(out of the 800 magistrates that will undergo vetting). In total, more than 230 dossiers have been processed, of which 101 have been dismissed, 39 have resigned and 90 magistrates have received confirmations to perform their duties. Although the pace of the vetting process of judges and prosecutors is somewhat slow, it is important for Albania that the transitional period of reforming existing justice institutions should not hinder citizens' access to justice. 35 34 Ad hoc Parliamentary Committee on the Justice System Reform by group of experts, June 2015: https://euralius.eu/old/images/pdf/Analysis-of-the-Justice-System-in-Albania.pdf 35 Through the project of Open Society Foundation for Albania(OSFA),“Strengthen public information and participation in the implementation of judicial reform through monitoring, evaluation and communication of the establishment and functioning of the institutions to combat corruption and organized crime” is made possible that CSO in Albania regularly monitor the justice reform and public perception on it thus helping to 48