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TIRANA, April 15 – Albania’s road of integration into the European Union will need not only the tough jobs of reforming its administration, institutions, laws and many other required standards, including politics. It seems that a very important issue which may turn into an easy obstacle is the fact that the country is predominantly Muslim.
Tirana and its leaders should really take into consideration the fact that larger Turkey, even though it is more developed than Albania has had to take further steps in order to become a member.
Besides the economy it seems there is also a strong cultural background to be taken care of.
Unlike Turkey Albania is not a very religious nation in a European context. It is secular and a country where three religions co-exist very well with each other.
That has been one of the topics often mentioned in the international arena in Albania’s favor. That should be really stressed so that it may not be discriminated in its hard steps towards full membership into the bloc.
Last year Gallup asked people in various nations, “Does religion occupy an important place in your life?” Below are the percentages who answered “no”:
Sweden 83%, Estonia 84%, Denmark 80%, Norway 78%, to be followed by Albania 62%, Montenegro 48%, Serbia 45%, Greece 30%, Italy 26%, Kosovo 26%, Macedonia 20% and Turkey 9%.