TIRANA, Feb. 11 – Austria has pledged support to Albania’s EU integration path, urging the country’s officials to continue implementing key reforms for the opening of accession negotiations. “2016 could become a very successful year for Albania if it continues implementing the key reforms and stays on track for EU accession, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has said.
Speaking in Tirana on Thursday as part of a Western Balkan tour, Kurz pledged Austria will remain actively engaged in Albania also in the future. Austria has been a traditional partner since Albania’s independence and is one of the top foreign investors in the country. The comments came during a regional conference on EU support to Albania through the Project Preparation Facility (PPF), a capacity building project funded by the European Union (EU) and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and implemented by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).
With a fund of more than €3 million over a 7-year period, the PPF coached more than 2,000 civil servants through training and study visits in the EU. A group of national trainers has been established and is already providing training on IPA-related topics for the Albanian administration. The Head of the EU Delegation to Albania Ambassador Romana Vlahutin emphasized the importance of the reforms and the need for an internal dialogue in the country.
“This is your internal dialogue, your journey, your responsibility. So, there has to be a dialogue within the society, with a full understanding on what these reforms will bring. We are just helping as much as we can in conducting and successfully implementing these reforms,” Ambassador Vlahutin said. Speaking about Albania’s reform agenda, Albanian Minister for European Integration Klajda Gjosha said the opening of the negotiations will give a boost to Albania’s integration efforts.
“Albania sees its European perspective as closely linked with the country’s reform agenda focusing on the rule of law through judicial reform as the key to the integration process. We believe that the opening of the negotiations will give a boost to the process and will provide further engagement in addressing the challenges that the implementation of the reforms will bring about.”
