After the NATO membership, Albania’s next aim is of course EU membership, which has somehow become more tangible after April 28th when the Albanian government presented its application for the candidate status. Bearing in mind that the European integration process is now at the center of attention of the public opinion, the media, the public administration, the Albanian Institute for International Studies organized for the first time in Albania the first session of the “European Academy”.
The academy (June 8th – June 15th ) was conceived as a one-week intensive session of lectures and practical workshops that provided useful information and aimed to enhance the knowledge and understanding of Albania’s EU integration course by public administration, media civil society and academia. The signing of the SAA and the application for candidate status makes such efforts all the more indispensable and urgent.
Twenty-five students with different educational backgrounds, such as the media, the public administration, public and private universities from all over Albania took part to the first intensive session of this novel initiative. The students had the opportunity to discuss with representatives of the diplomatic bodies, lectors from different universities in Albania matters on EU institutions, the Union policies, EU relations and perspectives to Albania. The ambassador of the German Republic in Tirana, H.E. Bernd Borchardt focused his presentation on the European perspective of the western Balkans stressing that although Germany didn’t encourage the Albanian application for the candidate status, it is clear that Europe is the final destination for the western Balkans countries. “Most of the requirements to join EU are the same as those you need to join NATO and the fact that Albania is already a NATO member, says that the country is on the right path to become an EU member. But still we don’t want to give fixed timelines about when this is going to happen” said H.E. Borchardt in his speech.
The curricula of the Academy combined generic courses about the basic knowledge of EU history, institutions and enlargement policies with specific sessions designed for each of the target groups according to the format of practical workshops. In addition, an EU Handbook will be soon prepared and distributed to media professionals after taking into account the results of the workshop and the areas where information is most needed.
One of the main goals of the “European Academy” was to bring the integration debate closer to the real beneficiaries of this process, the Albanian citizens and to make sure to give more realistic point of views of this process through different discussions.
