THE ALBANIAN PUBLIC'S TRUST IN SECURITY: STUMBLING BLOCKS TO EU NEGOTIATIONS government, as one of the three most important pillars upon which the public order is based. This reform was ratified in 2016 and has been at the center of constant political, diplomatic, and legal debate. In this context, through the analysis of the accountability of the security sector, and the public perception of the execution of its duties, this paper aims to muster the most important recommendations aimed at improving the accountability of these institutions, the democratization of the security sector in general, and in the end, the improvement of the practical functionality of said institutions as a result. The research has been carried out through the analysis of legal documents, reports, parliamentary debates, information released by the security institutions themselves, and information procured personally through interviews. 2. The Albanian Constitutional and Political Setting as it pertains to the Security Institutions. The institutional environment in Albania indicates a system in continual political crisis, which in turn produces institutional conflict. Generally speaking, the main opposition parties have forfeited their representation in the parliament under the pretense that the legislative is illegitimate due to election meddling by the government. The opposition also abandoned the local elections of 2019, giving the ruling party control in virtually every municipality. On another front, the president and the Government have continuously been at odds, indicating a veritable institutional conflict between these two branches of the executive. Just recently, parliament was holding a special commission created specifically to oust the president from power due to supposed constitutional breaches with regards to the appointment of Constitutional Court judges. Furthermore, the institutions of the justice reform, having been partially erected, are the subject of much debate due to its slow and chaotic implementation. The justice system has thereupon been in a state of perpetual unease as it pertains to the reinstatement of the courts that have had their judges expelled. The lack of a functioning Constitutional Court has created a situation in which the ruling government can pass laws with a general lack of constitutional hindrance. Meanwhile, this very same problem has become a continuous political argument used by the opposition parties and the President, who has commonly refused to decree laws brought to him by Parliament claiming them to be unconstitutional, which becomes a problem unto itself as there is no authority to decide upon the matter. Article 124 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania The political setting is mired with a lack of dialogue and a continued usage of revolutionary language towards the government by opposition voices, proclaiming the government to be increasingly totalitarian, and citing the above-mentioned reform as a tool of oppression, sometimes renamed under the slogan"Ramaform", named after the PM Edi Rama. What is particularly noteworthy and equally concerning about this element is the fact that critiques of the government and its handling of the justice reform have, on many occasions, been conflated 66