Tirana taking final steps for visa-free regime

TIRANA, Nov 23 – Albanian authorities are taking the last steps to complete the European Unjion’s roadmap r3quirements for a visa-free regime.
Interior Minsiter Lulzim Basha said that technically they have already completed the requirements and will expects an EU delegation to visit the country in mid-December.
Albania expects to get the visa-free regime from Brussels next summer. That means that, like the other three Balkan countries, it will wait for some more months till it is approved from the European Parliament and member countries.
European Movement in Albania (EMA) and European Stability Initiative (ESI) in the framework of the project “White Schengen List” supported by Robert Bosch Stiftung organized this month a conference entitled: “Visa-free travel for Albania – the final steps”, under the auspices of Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Gledis Gjipali, Executive Director of EMA, said that visa liberalisation should be considered as an investment which is going to bring benefits to Albanian citizens.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ilir Meta focused on Albanian achievements in fulfilling the benchmarks laid down on the Roadmap towards visa-free regime. Meta emphasized the fact that Albanian government will do its utmost to conclude this process. Meta invited the civil society actors to continue the dialogue and cooperation on this matter.
EC Ambassador Helmuth Lohan reaffirmed the potential of Albania to benefit from this process, underlining at the same time the remaining tasks, which are ahead for Albanian authorities. He mentioned the need to strengthen inter-agency cooperation in the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Tanja Fajon, Special Rapporteur for Visa Liberalisation of the European Parliament noted that the visa liberalization process requires real efforts and reforms from all stakeholders.
“Albania should demonstrate its political willingness in fighting corruption and organized crime, in order to catch up with other Western Balkan countries, which will benefit from visa liberalization process”, Fajon said, and appealed to EU Member States about the situation in Kosovo, which should not be a black hole in the middle of Europe and should also benefit from opening the dialogue on visa liberalization.
During the summer, Albania was taking things a bit slower due to the elections in June 2009. However, the government produced an action plan on 29 July 2009, with ambitious but still realistic deadlines to meet the remaining roadmap conditions, and on 16 September the new government pledged to achieve “free movement of Albanians in the Schengen area within the first year of the government mandate”.
Albania had achieved significant progress, bringing it to approximately the same level of implementation that Serbia and Montenegro had achieved in May 2009.
This has been recognised by the European Parliament, EU member states and the European Commission. The Commission plans to send EU national expert missions in to Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2009 to assess progress under block 1 in December, and the remaining assessment missions in early 2010. Provided that Albania and Bosnia will have met all benchmarks by then, their citizens might be able to benefit from visa-free travel from July 2010 onward
Albania urged to do more before visa liberalisation
The government must complete more work before an exact date for visa liberalisation is set, the head of the European Commission’s (EC) External Relations and Enlargement Unit, Luigi Soreca, said last week. The dialogue launched by the EC with five countries in the region was based on a road map and clear technical and political standards that must be met, Soreca told the BBC. Liberalising visas for Albanian citizens will depend on the country’s progress in meeting these standards, Soreca added.