Albania, EU meet to review progress towards EU membership

TIRANA, June 19 – An Albanian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha, and the European Union represented by EU foreign commissioner Javier Solana, met in Luxembourg to review the country’s continuing legislative and economic reforms required for EU membership.
Solana made it clear to Albania that the EU considered election of a president by consensus as a basic condition so that Albania shows continuing political maturity. Of course, said Solana, the EU did not expect Albania to violate its own constitution.
Solana also said that Albania did not want snap elections at this time, but political stability.
Albania signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with EU in June 2006. That has been ratified by a dozen countries and more have pledged to do that this year.
After the full ratification, then Albania must fulfill the other provisions before reaching the stage of becoming a candidate for full EU membership. There is no time fixed for the vote on membership by the EU.
The EU has set aside 270 million Euros in assistance for Albania for the 2007-2009 period.