EP to present visa-free report on Albania

TIRANA, March 23 – The European Parliament sent a delegation of its lawmakers to Albania on a two-day visit to meet with all top officials in their efforts in monitoring the country’s steps in fulfilling the road map for the visa-free request.
Albania hopes to get the visa-free regime this summer, together with Bosnia.
The European Parliament (EP) was briefed on Tirana’s EU visa liberalization process and they are to present their report next month.
Albania and Bosnia did not join FYROM, Montenegro and Bosnia last year to get the visa liberalization to the EU Schengen area countries.
They had to fulfill a number of items on the road map given from the European Union.
Tirana claims they have already fulfilled all the requirements. They expect Brussels to decide on the visa-free regime likely starting this summer.
The European Parliament delegation was headed by Eduard Kukan, head of the Delegation of the European Parliament for South East Europe, and composed by members of the European Parliament from different EU countries and Tanja Fajon, Member of the European Parliament from Slovenia, Rapporteur for the visa dialogue with the Western Balkan countries in the Committee for Civil Liberties.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha expressed the deepest gratitude for the extraordinary support given for the integration into the EU and visa liberalization.
Berisha said the government has already adopted the Integrated Border Management Strategy. The 24 border crossing points have already been unified in the TIMS systems, which functions effectively and is also interconnected with Interpol and there is already established the e-visa and e-sojourn models.
The prime minister said that all the relevant legislation for border control and surveillance has already been approved, as well as that on asylum, in alignment with European standards while it has brought into full control the monitoring of sea lanes by radar.
Berisha informed the MEPs of the reforms and the important achievements accomplished over this period in the fight for zero tolerance against crime, trafficking and corruption.
Berisha expressed to the members of the European Parliament the determination of the Albanian government to undertake every reform, approve every measure and achieve by all means the successful completion of these processes.
Kukan positively assessed Albania achievements during this period toward meeting the criteria of the European integration as well as the roadmap for the visa liberalization.
“We shall uphold in the European Parliament the lifting of the visa regime for Albanian citizens as soon as possible,” said Kukan.