Austria in support of Tirana’s visa-fee efforts

TIRANA, Jan. 31 – Interior Minister Lulzim Basha signed last week a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with his Austrian counterpart Maria Fekter in promoting Albania’s efforts toward achieving the visa-free regime.
The deal between Basha and Fekter also included assistance in emergency situations like the recent one in the northern districts of Shkodra and Lezha.
Europe is to reconsider Tirana’s steps mid-year. A delegation of experts of the European Commission is to visit Tirana this month to check whether the country has fulfilled its road map requirements.
The government says during the last two months that it has fulfilled all the points and now expects to get the visa-free regime in July.
In another sign authorities also say that the existing passports are valid until 2011.
Some 460,000 Albanians have already applied for the new biometric passports and more continue to do so every day.
In another step in this process Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said while in Washington, DC, that he believed that Albania would see its EU visa barriers fall by summer.
Frattini also expressed hope that political parties in Tirana will understand the country’s broader interest and help it join the EU as soon as possible. The opposition Socialist Party has been boycotting parliament for months, demanding an investigation into June 2009 general election.
On Monday Prime Minister Sali Berisha also urged Albanians to continue applying for the new passports as another move in this direction. He assured them that the EC experts would give a positive OK to the steps already undertaken.