Tirana presents EU efforts to skeptical Brits

TIRANA, Feb. 5 – Eager to convince EU countries that have deemed Albania not yet ready to advance its bid to join the bloc, Albanian top officials have told a representative of the British government that Tirana is working hard to fulfill all the requirements and reforms for moving the bid forward, starting with getting the candidate status in June.
UK Minister of European Issues David Livington held a visit to Albania this week, meeting with the country’s top leaders. His visit is significant because, the UK was one of the five countries, together with Germany, France, Denmark and Netherlands, that blocked a proposal to grant Albania candidate status last year.
Though there were no concrete requirements set until June, it was said that they wanted to see consolidated tangible results in the fight against corruption and organized crime.
The UK has continuously given assistance for the justice reform in the tiny western Balkan country. Fighting illegal traffic and corruption are two other areas of assistance.
That was also one of the issues discussed in meetings Livington held with Prime Minister Edi Rama, Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati, European Integration Minister Klajda Gjoshaj and others.
Prime Minister Rama presented Minister Lidington with the country’s reforms, noting that although Albania failed to get candidate status in December, the Albanian government remains firm in its commitment to fulfill all the required priorities in the integration process, the prime minister’s office said in a press release.