TIRANA, Sept. 4 – Gunther Krichbaum, chair of the Commission on EU Affairs in the German Bundestag, said on Monday that without achieving the electoral reform before the 2019 local elections, Albania has no chance to open negotiations with the European Union.
In an interview for local Panorama newspaper, the CDU/CSU lawmaker expressed disappointment over the weak progress the government has made to meet the conditions set by the EU and the German Bundestag.
“Negotiations can only begin after Albania has carried out the necessary reforms. In addition to the complete verification of judges and prosecutors, the electoral reform should also be mentioned here. If the 2019 local elections take place under the old electoral law, I see no real chance of opening accession negotiations in 2019,” Krichbaum said.
Krichbaum explained that there is no calendar or exact date of the opening of negotiations, since the progress of reforms must be seen consistently.
“The EU has not taken a decision to start accession negotiations with Albania. It will reconsider the issue at the forthcoming June 2019 Council and then make a final decision on the December 2019 Council. Unfortunately, two and a half years later, since the imposition of 7 conditions from Germany, we must conclude that there has been little progress on these issues,” he told local media.
Krichbaum also spoke of the coordinated Socialist Party-affiliated media attack towards him some months back, which led some German lawmakers to boycott a dinner Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama had organized with them in Berlin.
“I wasn’t the only one to cancel the dinner party. Almost all CDU/CSU MPs dropped out of that dinner, referring to the media campaign. If it is possible to organize such a coordinated campaign against a foreign politician, then it can also happen at any time against your country’s civil society and opposition,” he concluded.
