By Valentina Leskaj
This year holds a particular significance for Albania and for NATO too. Albania expects to become a member of NATO with fully fledged rights in April while the Alliance is experiencing its sixth enlargement on the eve of the 60th anniversary of its creation.
Enlargement into the Balkans through Albania and Croatia and hopefully FYROM in the near future if it is to overcome the difficulties related to its name, is undoubtedly significant for the far and near past of the region, one of the hottest areas of conflict.
In this context, Albania’s and Croatia’s memberships not only enhance regional security, but also place the two countries into the roles of contributors to security.
In the meantime, we are part of a new geopolitical configuration in the Balkans with the new state of Kosovo which has also strengthened the common integrating future of the region.
Albania has been a factor for stability in the region and one of the first countries after the fall of communism to have sought NATO membership. And this is understandable for a country that more than any other experienced a long isolation from the democratic world, deprivation and lack of human rights and freedoms.
The invitation, the ratification by the parliaments of the 26 NATO member states in a short time and membership, expected in April, certainly represent support and confirmation of the strategic partnership and excellent relations with the United States and other countries of the Alliance, countries that Albanians are grateful to.
In fact, what brought us here is a common contribution, by which I am not only referring only to the political class, but to Albanian society at wide, to the citizens of this country who have given the wider support to the integration process than anywhere else.
Even though with some delay, the Albanian political class nevertheless became representative of the wide consensus of the Albanian people for NATO membership through the consensus it reached on the reforms that enabled the invitation.
This is the first time that an opposition force becomes a direct contributor to the process by initiating the resolution for the country’s membership in NATO (a resolution adopted by the Assembly through consensus in January 2007), and further by engaging in the two major reforms: the electoral and the judiciary reforms.
This new approach of an opposition that is inviting, and even at the lead, rather than rejecting the processes mentioned above did not only set a positive track record for membership but it also created a new political climate in the country, appreciated by all our international partners.
The political atmosphere that was created enables the forging of necessary synergies to successfully face the challenges ahead of us, as Albania’s NATO membership, to be finalised in the April Summit, is largely based on expectations.
It is largely based on expectation, especially in terms of the fundamental issues for membership in the alliance of values, related to the strengthening of the reform process, the rule of law, the fight against organized crime, corruption, trafficking and other matters.
In the Bucharest Summit, while referring to Albania and Croatia which received the invitations for membership, President Bush said that these countries are ready to assume responsibilities.
Above all in fact, the Albanian political class will have to show maturity and capacities to carry these responsibilities.
The question of integration is not a matter of fulfilling a list of laws or budget thresholds to show to our partners. It is primarily a question of sustainable reforms and law enforcement, currently the weak parts of the chain.
A NATO member state cannot produce instability in reforms, which is mainly concerned with their quality.
It is mainly concerned with the fact that laws cannot be drafted and passed to exploit the system for individual interests, but to truly reform it.
A clear division needs to be set between these two approaches and this undoubtedly requires strong will.
The challenges of corruption, organized crime, the rule of law, of relations between independent institutions remain our long-term challenges.
The test of maturity remains to be passed first of all with the upcoming elections in June 28th. Naturally, it is unacceptable for us to put at jeopardy the quality of elections at this date due to the delays in the equipment with identity cards.
We are talking today of basic reforms, of a minimum threshold for a functional democratic system; of the justice reform towards an independent judiciary, a process left halfway; of free and fair elections while Albania should be preparing for bigger challenges as a future NATO member.
NATO itself has taken on new challenges today, starting with issues related to the global economic crisis, to energy which is turning from an economic to a security matter, such as in the case of Russia and the Ukraine), to environmental security which we still stand far from (even though we discuss nuclear energy), to gender issues.
The new approach in American politics with the Obama administration fosters common solutions and their achievement means increasing the level of responsibility of member states, be it in domestic, regional or wider issues.
Are we ready for this? Good will is certainly insufficient.
Albania’s NATO membership is indeed a great achievement, but also a great responsibility domestically in particular, in order to be only one more number in the Alliance, but an added value. This is a historical responsibility.
Speech held Feb.21 at the 4th Albanian Institute for International Studies Security Conference titled “Desecuritization and Resecuritization of Western Balkan Inter/Intrastate relations.”
