Albania could apply next year to join EU

TIRANA, Sept 15 – Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha seemed to give a strong splash to many opposition voices of asking the government to apply for European union candidate status this autumn.
In an interview with Reuters Berisha said that Albania could be ready next year to apply to join the European Union, the beginning of a long process to integrate with the prosperous 27-member bloc.
“During the next year or something it could happen,” said Berisha. “The European Union integration process is an irreversible process. The question is on the speed of it.”
“It depends a lot on Albanians, it is for sure, and must be a performance-based outcome,” he continued. “It also depends on the European Union enlargement, which has become a delicate process.”
“I don’t think it will take 10 years,” Berisha said, “but Albania has a lot of work to do and we are trying.”
Albanians go to the polls next year and the opposition Socialists say the country has delayed too long in applying.
“Albania should have applied already,” Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, the Socialist chairman who could become prime minister if his party wins, said on Thursday. “I fully disagree with the government and the prime minister in not having done it.”
Albania’s neighbor Macedonia has already earned EU candidate status but not an invitation to NATO, a situation that concerns Berisha.
“Macedonia is very important for peace in the region, it is a crucial country for the southern Balkans,” Berisha said. Failure by Macedonia to progress towards NATO and the EU could boost radicals there, he added.