Tirana pledging faster work toward EU questionnaire

TIRANA, March 15 – The Albanian Inter-ministerial Committee for Integration learnt that authorities have completed 30 chapters of the European Union questionnaire, which consists of a total of 1669 questions, or 73 percent of all the responses the country needs to prepare.
The last completed chapters covered free movement of goods, of services, legislation on Common Commercial Policy, law on intellectual property, energy, social and employment policies, industrial enterprises and policies, consumer protection and health under coordination, and foreign relations.
These 9 chapters taken together consist of 29 percent of all the questions, respective responses of this questionnaire of 667 responses. These responses have been provided by 56 institutions of the country and more than 350 employees and executives have been committed to drafting these questions.
Meanwhile last week the Stabilization and Association Committee, established upon the entry into force of the SAA on 1 April 2009, held its first meeting.
This committee meeting handles all issues discussed at a technical level in the EU-Albania subcommittee such as those of the political criteria, economic criteria and European standards.
The meeting also discussed the recent political fight in the country.
Integration Minister Majlinda Bregu said that the parliamentary majority remains open to legitimate political compromise that would bring sustainable dialogue, which also according to the Community side is a precondition for the reform agenda and obligations under the integration process.
Pierre Mirel, EC Director for Western Balkans, said that the Commission welcomed the recent developments in Parliament and added that the return of the opposition should be uninterrupted and solid.
With regard to visa liberalization, they evaluated the progress achieved in border management, readmission agreements with EU countries and issuance of biometric passports. The Commission stands firm to its intent to prepare within June an opinion on visa liberalization.
Mirel said that the Stabilization and Association Agreement has been implemented smoothly.
As regards the political criteria, the Community side underlined that there is a comprehensive legislative and institutional framework in combating corruption. The Commission welcomed the legal reform in the judicial system, simultaneously underlining that adoption of the law on the Administrative Court which is quite important.
The Commission welcomed the adoption of the Law on Non-discrimination, both as a fulfilled obligation under the integration process and visa liberalization, and as a law that puts Albanian citizens on the same footing with EU citizens.
Albania has applied for candidate status since April last year.
Mirel said that the Commission is expecting the reports of the experts who visited Albania in the last weeks. Their conclusions will be shared and sent to their colleagues in Albania, as this practice ensures that there are no misunderstandings.
“Then we will prepare our evaluation that will be based on our required standards, legal reform progress and the conclusions of these experts. Our evaluation will be shared with the EU countries, and the EU will submit its proposal to the Council. It remains in the discretion of the Council and member states to decide. I want to add two comments. This approach with Albania is the same to that used with other countries. Secondly, I want to say that we are committed and that we will prepare our proposal in the first half of 2010 and we stand to this word”.