EU Tells Albania Not Ready For Candidate Status

TIRANA, June 24 – While Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and opposition Socialist leader Edi Rama visit Brussels to convince the European Union about Albania’s progress, and also determine if now is the time to request membership, the answer seems very clear at the moment.
Within Albania, there have been growing calls for the country to apply for EU candidate status, with opposition parties demanding Tirana apply by the end of the year.
The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, has said that Albania is not ready for EU candidate status because it still needs to implement necessary reforms.
Brussels needs real concrete results and a consolidation of reforms and, upon seeing the track record, it may proceed to the next stage. Barroso has said that Brussels wants “a good ‘dossier’ in order to present it to the member states so we can move forward in the next stage.”
The European Commission has said Albania must do more to tackle corruption, organized crime, revamp the role of the judiciary, as well as develop its infrastructure and power grid.