NATO has yet to decide on Albanian membership, says U.S.

TIRANA, Feb. 9 – A statement issued by the U.S. embassy last week clearly said that Washington had yet to decide whether Albania would be invited this spring to become a full NATO member.
The statement said the U.S. had become aware of media reports last week which suggest that a decision has already been made by NATO allies to issue an invitation for membership to Albania and other Adriatic Charter countries. “We wish to clarify that no formal decision has yet been taken on possible NATO membership for Albania or for any of the A3 countries. For an invitation to be extended, all 26 Allies must agree,” said the statement.
Additionally, the statement said that recently, “we have noted significant progress in Albania’s efforts to meet NATO’s performance-based standards as outlined in the Membership Action Plan. More, however, remains to be done.
We are encouraged by the improved bipartisan attitude toward cooperation evidenced, inter alia, by unanimous passage of an opposition-introduced resolution in support of reforms to meet NATO criteria. Nonetheless, a significant number of reforms, specifically in the areas of electoral and judicial reform, remain incomplete. We continue to look for further progress on these reforms to ensure that Albania is the strongest possible candidate at the time final NATO decisions are reached.”