EU working to resolve Albania’s crisis

TIRANA, July 12 – European Parliament members held a debate last week on two resolutions regarding the progress of Albania and Kosovo on their roads to EU integration.
Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele welcomed Tirana’s progress in meeting conditions for visa liberalization, but pointed out that problems remain, stemming from the political stalemate.
The opposition has resumed a parliamentary boycott because the government refuses to investigate alleged manipulation of the June 2009 elections.
Fuele also noted that corruption and organized crime remain major concerns.
More than one year has passed since the general elections of June 2009, but the Socialist Party, who narrowly lost the elections having 65 of the parliament’s 140-seats, demands opening of the ballot boxes because it claims that the Democratic Party manipulated the vote count.
The governing Democrats deny that and say even a partial vote recount would break the laws and the constitution
The opposition has tried many protesting tools until now starting from the parliament boycott to the street protests and the hunger strike.
It was first the Council of Europe to mediate an end of the boycott in February and the creation of the parliamentary investigative committee.
The boycott ended but the newly-created parliamentary commission was not accepted by the opposition as it excluded the partial vote recount.
Then it was the European Parliament and the European Commission who formally invited the two top leaders in an informal dinner in Strasbourg.
Since then there is nothing achieved and that pushed the EP to warn Tirana that their failure to reach a compromise could spoil their integration efforts.
It seems the EP has presented an offer: creating a new parliamentary commission headed and with the majority of the members from the opposition, to start probing the voting documentation
What the two opposing political groupings in the tiny Balkan country are saying until these days seems to be accepting that idea.
But as always the problems come out when they discuss the technical details.
The political situation has done a lot of damage in the road to European integration. Albania in April applied for EU candidate status, while it is waiting visa liberalization with the European Union Schengen countries.
The European community more then once has expressed concerns for the political situation in the country and has threatened that if an agreement is not made soon, European integration for Albania will be at risk.
“The stalemate is hindering important steps that are necessary on EU integration part,” Fuele warned, and asked Tirana politicians to take into account all recommendations given by OSCE and ODHIR about the June 2009 elections.
Fuele also spoke about the need for additional efforts to strengthen the judicial system in Albania. “Albania needs to rigorously implement legislation on anti-corruption and to strengthen judicial capacity,” the commissioner said.
Another matter for concern for Fuele is the situation with media. He warned that more needs to be done in this area.
“The legal framework needs to be completed. Transparency of media ownership should be tackled and intimidation and influence on journalists are matter of concern,” Fuele said.