Albania pins hopes on lifting EU visa restrictions

TIRANA, May 12 – Though there is no clear hope that the country may soon become a European Union member in the near future, Albania is pinning its hopes on joining the EU’s Schengen visa-free travel area.
Tirana has made it clear that lifting the visas for Albanians is a top priority for the government.
As Europe struggles to improve the functioning of its institutions, politicians throughout the region have understood that, except for Croatia, EU membership is not a goal that can be attained in the medium term.
But Albanians believe that delaying their EU entry prospects would require in return scrapping visa requirements as the most suitable step.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has made that topic a priority of his electoral campaign saying that the country would need no visas within a year.
But Albania should fulfill a course set from Brussels and for the moment the first step is closely linked to holding free and fair elections.
Another main topic is issuing biometric passports to Albanians, a process that has just started and is likely to be used again by Europe to tell Albania that they first need the passports to get the visas.
The EU is to report on biometric passports on May 18th and after which the Council of Ministers will decide individually for each Western Balkan country whether the visas will be lifted or if more needs to be done.