TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
At the end of June, Albania will likely be an official candidate for European Union membership. It is a decision that the European Council, in fact, should have taken in December last year. Most Albanians believe that the decision in December to delay granting Albania the status was unfair.
Albania has been wanting EU membership for two decades. The process of European integration has been a driving force behind the reconstruction of the state, its institutions and building a democratic society. There are fundamental misunderstandings in terms of the integration process and the expectations of citizens. But despite this, political leaders in the country, and the Albanian elite in general, understand that the process of European integration cannot progress without the success of internal reforms, leading to the creation of a functioning democratic state and a democratic society.
Albania is in its foreign policy a strong ally of the European Union and the West in general. It’s a small country, but its support should be appreciated and recognized by the EU and member governments. Besides its constructive policy in the Balkans and unreserved support for EU policy in the area, Albania (and Montenegro) also supported EU sanctions against Russia, stemming from the crisis in Ukraine. Serbia chose to support Russia instead.
However, despite the importance of foreign policy, internal reforms will be more important in the integration process. Albania’s European future should happen in Albania and not in Brussels.
In December last year, the governments of the five EU member states decided to postpone the status of candidate country for at least six months. The decision was not only seen as unfair in Albania, but it was also difficult to understand and explain the usefulness of the delay. The candidate status is entirely symbolic. And a country that has this status has to wait a very long time in the negotiations stage.
This procedure / instrument (candidate status) in fact, did not exist in instruments and procedures followed in the earlier stages of enlargement policy, including enlargment to Bulgaria and Romania .
Candidate status was invented to encourage critical decisions in Macedonia to end a potential civil war there. However, the decision of the European Council of December 2013 not to support the candidate status for Albania has sent a message that EU membership is not impossible, but it will be increasingly difficult to achieve.
While there is no doubt that this was a clear signal from Europe, it is not clear whether this signal is heard and understood in Albania, primarily by the political leadership of the country. The test whether this signal is heard and understood will be after obtaining the status of candidate country in June. After receiving candidate status, Albania will need to open negotiations. Other policy changes in the EU will likely make it even more difficult and will further complicate the integration process itself.
For Albanians, support for the EU remains strong. Should there be a referendum in Albania today to decide whether or not to be in the EU, it would be the most successful one in the history of EU enlargement. In such a hypothetical referendum, 77 percent of Albanians would vote in favor of membership, according a survey released this week by the Albanian Institute for International Studies.
However, it is difficult to believe that in a hypothetical referendum citizens of member countries would have voted for membership of Albania. With the increase in support for anti-EU, populist, extreme left or right forces in the May 25 elections of the the European Parliament, it would be hard to believe that voters in these countries would support any enlargement. It is true that the parties of the center-right and center-left will continue to control the European Parliament and the respective institutions after the elections, but the threat from growing anti-EU parties is likely to have an impact on EU policies, and enlargement in particular.
The challenges after the status, will not only relate to negotiations with EU institutions, but also creating a proper political environment between the government and the opposition, and a proper societal climate that moves away from a legacy of a democratic process hurt by vote-rigging, vote-buying and a broken justice system that does not punish those vested in power and wealth through corruption in crime. The question then is: Is this country ready to do what it takes?
