Europe insists on solving the political deadlock

TIRANA, March 31 – European Union officials and politicians seem to be involved in continuously pressuring Albanian political parties to end the deadlock that is negatively affecting the country’s integration steps into the bloc.
Head of the European Socialist Parties, the leftist grouping, convened in Sarajevo, Bosnia, supporting the idea of election transparency view of the Albanian opposition saying that it is decisive in their future steps and urged the parliament to create an investigative commission accepted by all sides involved.
The one created by the parliament almost two weeks ago was not supported by the opposition. Socialists, who control 65 of the parliament’s 140 seats, as the governing Democrats, controlling 75 seats, did not include a partial recount of the ballot boxes considered to be manipulated.
The leftist European Party head Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said Albania should put an end to the manipulated elections along its efforts of integration into the EU. He also suggested that the parliamentary commission may also include independent international members in order to give it more credibility.
Albanian Socialist Party leader Edi Rama and also the Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta were present at the meeting in Sarajevo.
At the same time EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele reiterated on Tuesday his concerns about the ongoing political stalemate in Albania.
“I expressed concern about the stability of democratic institutions and the lack of political dialogue in the parliament. All laws are adopted here, and there would be no reforms without appropriate legislation,” Fuele said in an interview with EurActiv.
“It is very much in the hands of the Albanians and I hope very much that they will make progress and show that they have a mature democracy. Responsibility lies with both political parties – both the ruling group and the opposition.”
“This is one of the lessons to be learned from the previous enlargement: to put particular importance on the Copenhagen criteria – especially the political criteria – from the very beginning of the accession process until the very end. We need to ensure that countries not only have the legislation and institutions, but also a track record of implementation,” said Fuele.
For his part Rama sent a letter to Fuele Tuesday urging him and the EU not to delay the visa liberalization for his country.
“Albania as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina could join the visa liberalization regime as soon as July 2010. Visa liberalization remains an essential pillar for EU accession encouraging cosmopolitan intercultural understanding and a pro-European mindset in the region,” wrote a final statement from the meeting of the leftist parties in Sarajevo.
But Rama also mentioned in the letter his concern for the further deterioration of the political situation in the country despite the European calls for dialogue.
Rama repeated that the opposition was not asking for a change of the election results but aimed at stopping corruption in the elections in the future.
“A common vision is needed to inspire all actors to actively work towards EU membership of the Western Balkans. This vision for a new Europe is Enlargement 2014,” said the leftist European parties.