Europe: Albanians say overwhelmingly yes

TIRANA, Oct.18- No less than 93.8 percent of Albanian would vote yes if tomorrow a referendum was to be held in order to decide whether Albania should joint eh EU. The conclusion has been reached in the 2007 edition of an annual study conducted by the Albanian Institute of International Studies (AIIS) and promoted today at a conference where the main actors involved in the integration process were invited. Integration Minister Majlinda Bregu, Head of the European Commission Delegation in Tirana, Helmuth Lohan and Head of the Parliamentary Commission of Integration Ilir Meta were some of the distinguished speakers which addresses an audience of representatives from the central and local government, civil society, media, and academia.
Minister Bregu talked about the importance of local ownership and proper media attention towards the process of integration. She presented some of the projects that her ministry is launching in collaboration with education institutes in order to make integration more accessible and meaningful especially for students and young people who will be the future actors to carry on this long process.
Ambassador Lohan in his word criticized some of the Albanian reactions towards the Visa Facilitation agreement and called for a more enthusiastic and responsible approach to the opportunities that this treaty opens up for certain social categories in Albania. Indeed for many Albanians the primary benefit of integration remains free movement, a consistent result of the annual surveys.
Ilir Meta rightly pointed out that integration is not an end in itself. Integration should not be used as an indoctrination device in order to justify certain reforms but the beneficial targets that this reforms aim at should be clear and transparent tot the society.
Executive director of AIIS, Albert Rakipi brought to the discussion the matter of European values which according to discussant Geron Kamberi were acknowledged by the majority of the respondents. Most of the people answering the questionnaire brought up democratization and rule of law as the primary conditions that were to be met in order for Albania to be ready to enter the EU.
Subsequent studies of AIIS show that approval rates toward Albania’s entry in the European family are always above 80%. AIIS has been measuring detailed perceptions of the EU and on the integration process in the last five years.
In 2005, the approval was 83.9 percent. In 2006 approval rates jumped considerably higher at 92.5 percent, given the impact of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) signature. Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Foreign Minister of the time Arenca Trashani signed the SAA in July 2005.