TIRANA, Jan.20 – As the justice reform has become the center of heated political debate in Albania, the international community continues to stress the importance of the reform regarding the country’s EU integration aspirations.
The Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country took over the rotating EU presidency in January, addressed the European Parliament last week to discuss the priorities of the Dutch presidency.
The rule of law, basic rights, the public administration, and the fight against corruption are the focus of the Dutch presidency as regards enlargement.
Koenders described the Dutch approach as “strict and honest” implying that all conditions have to be fulfilled by candidate countries which are ultimately responsible for meeting all the criteria, while the candidates are offered technical and financial aid for the reform process. This also implies that the European Union must positively vote when a candidate country has fulfilled all the criteria.
Regarding Albania, Koenders said that despite the significant progress in many key areas regarding the opening of accession talks, further efforts are required on the justice reform.
“Albania must continue with further serious efforts addressing the key EU priorities, such as the adoption of the judicial reform package” said the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in the European Parliament last week.
External Action Service Director for Western Europe, Western Balkans, and Turkey Angelina Eichhorst reiterated the same stance this week during a meeting with the Speaker of Albanian Parliament Ilir Meta, in which she was accompanied by the head of the EU delegation in Tirana Romana Vlahutin. Vlahutin herself has been very active as an intermediary since political camps in Albania are at loggerheads over constitutional amendments needed to finalize the reform.
Eichhorst said that the successful completion of the reform is of utmost importance for opening accession negotiations between Albania and the European Union.
Eichhorst also met with representatives of Albania’s opposition Democratic Party, who consider the draft proposed by the Socialist Party as one-sided and a government attempt to capture the justice system.
Eichhorst declared that all sides should cooperate with honesty for a successful completion of the process, while she suggested the decriminalization law as the model to follow for reaching consensus.
