Albania applies for EU candidate status

PRAGUE, April 28 – Albania formally applied Tuesday for membership in the European Union.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha submitted Albania’s application to Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek as the Czech Republic currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Berisha said joining the European Union was of great importance.
“This is a dream come true,” he said at an appearance in Prague with Michael Leigh, head of the European Commission’s enlargement directorate.
All 27 EU members have now ratified the Stabilization and Association Agreement Albania signed with the EU three years ago as a first step toward membership.
The European Commission welcomed Albania’s application for European Union membership.
The commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said it is ready to prepare a report on the country’s readiness for E.U. accession, if E.U. member states ask for one.
“Albania has continued to make progress on key political reforms and on its preparations for European integration,” a senior official in the commission’s enlargement department, Michel Leigh, said in a statement.
Any decision on Albania’s membership bid must be supported by all 27 E.U. member countries.
Albania joins Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro in the group of countries that have applied for E.U. membership. In order to join the bloc, countries must make national laws conform to E.U. legislation and demonstrate that they are well-functioning market economies.
Even with these steps, bids to join the E.U. are complicated by resistance to further enlargement in some quarters of the bloc.
The E.U.’s current governing treaty also restricts membership to 27 states. A new pact, known as the Lisbon Treaty, would allow more member countries, but was vetoed by Irish voters last year.
The Commission welcomes the application for EU membership presented by the Prime Minister of Albania, Mr. Sali Berisha to the President of the European Council, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. Today, Albania has reached a historical milestone marking the country’s important engagement to common European values and fundamentals.
It is for the Council to decide on the way ahead. The Commission stands ready to prepare an ‘Opinion’ about Albania’s application, should the Council invite us to do so.
Albania has continued to make progress on key political reforms and on its preparations for European integration. Since 2006, the trade-related provisions of the Interim Agreement have been implemented well. The Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) entered into force in April 2009. Albania has maintained a constructive and stabilizing role in the region. It is now up to Albania to demonstrate its capacity to move to the next stage of EU integration, in particular by improving the rule of law. The holding of the parliamentary elections in June in a free and fair manner remains a key condition as well.
The European perspective of the Western Balkan countries, including Albania, is essential for the stability and the prosperity of the region and for the EU. By making solid progress in economic and political reform and by fulfilling the necessary conditions and requirements, the remaining potential candidates in the Western Balkans should achieve candidate status, according to their own merits, with EU membership as ultimate goal.”
Albania is a potential candidate country for EU accession. It has implemented the trade-related provisions of the Interim Agreement under the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union since June 2006. Following completion of ratification procedures, the SAA has entered into force on April 1st 2009.
The application for membership is submitted to the Council, which decides whether to initiate the procedure laid down in the Treaty and ask the Commission to provide its opinion of the application. In light of the Commission’s recommendation, the Council unanimously decides whether to grant candidate country status to the applicant country.
The ‘Opinion’ of the Commission assesses the applicant’s fulfillment of the criteria for accession, including its ability to assume the obligations of membership. This means a thorough analysis of the state of play in EU related reforms. A country’s satisfactory track-record in implementing its obligations under the Stabilization and Association Agreement (including trade-related provisions) is also an essential element for the EU to consider any membership application
“We have made the important decision to submit the formal request to be a candidate country to the EU on April 28,” Berisha said during a televised cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Albania will be the second country after Montenegro to file an EU membership application since December.
The decision had been taken “after consultation with European capitals which have supported Albania in this democratic step,” he added.
“The lodging of papers will mark an important turning point for Albania which has committed to pursuing reforms on its path to [full] democracy …Albania, formerly a country known for its high crime rate and corruption, has today become a country very attractive to investors and foreign tourists.”
After a meeting between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Berisha on Saturday, the French presidency issued a statement in support of Tirana’s bid.
“Albania will be a member of the European Union and France fully supports this idea,” the Elysee said.
Ratification of its SAA was completed in January this year, when Greece became the last EU state to approve the document.
The EU believes the country, which is among the poorest in Europe, has still a lot to do before it is worthy of full membership.
In any case, Tirana’s membership application represents a small step on its EU road.
The EU executive’s assessment should then take at least a year, after which the bloc’s member states are to decide by unanimity whether to grant the country the status of an EU candidate.
If Albania is granted that status, the EU candidate must then start accession negotiations chapter by chapter, this process alone is likely to take several years.
In the current political and economic context, the enlargement enthusiasm in EU capitals has been cooling down.
Berisha said application of the candidate status would be of defining significance in Albania becoming a full member of the European Union.
But the European Union has discouraged Albania from making its bid for the candidacy before the country’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 28.
Enlargement fatigue, exacerbated by an economic crisis five years after a “big bang” took the European Union deep behind the former Iron Curtain, has already slowed a bid to join by Balkan frontrunner candidate Croatia.
Albania joined NATO on April 1st 2009 and on July 28th 2009 the country is to hold parliamentary elections, which will be an important test on the way to the EU membership, the agency says
Just ten years ago it was the most corrupt country in Europe – a place where over half the population admitted regularly having to pay bribes.
Now, however, the Albanian government insists its country is a paragon of virtue and is ready to join the European Union.
The country remains plagued with corruption as well as powerful organized criminal networks, which use the country as a staging post for guns, women and drugs destined for Europe via Italy – which is a short boat trip across the Adriatic Sea.
European rules insist that all member states must be democratic and EU officials have told the Prime Minister that he should wait until after this summer’s general election before trying to join the EU.
Both France and Greece have said they will support Albania’s quest for membership. However, it is highly unlikely that this will happen until 2015 at the earliest.
And the country’s accession could be delayed by fierce internal debate about whether the EU should be enlarged to encompass struggling Balkan countries.