Authorities hopeful on EU candidate status

TIRANA, May 20 – Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said this week the country is hopeful it will get the European Union candidate status next month.
“We have strong reason to believe that we have never been this close to the strategic goal missed from Albania for some years,” he told parliamentarians of his governing Socialist Party this Monday.
Albania has applied for that status since 2009 but it has been rejected three times by Brussels asking for more tangible results in the fight against crime and corruption and also justice and administration reforms.
Rama also mentioned the fact that he is invited by his Dutch counterpart for a visit soon. Netherlands has been the strongest opponent of Albania’s status last December, also gathering support from some other countries in Europe like Germany, Britain, France and Denmark.
European Integration Minister Klajda Gjosha has said that the integration process belongs to all Albanians. She said at the Vienna Economic Forum the dialogue between political parties is necessary to advance the European agenda.
“Integration is not a matter of borders, but to embrace the fundamental values on which the European Union operates. The reforms, which the government is undertaking, first are seen to feature the process of building Europe within us.”
Meanwhile Rama also accused the opposition Democrats this week of working against the country’s hopes of becoming a EU member country one day, only days ahead the Brussels decision next month for its candidate status.
Rama accused a part of the opposition, those who had been in senior posts until last year, “of launching themselves with all the energies to work against” the country’s efforts to obtain EU candidate status.
The opposition, on the other hand, accuses the government of hurting Albania’s EU integration through being involved in drug traffic and being unable to run the country.