Iceland in EU angers western Balkans

TIRANA, Aug 3 – European foreign ministers are trying to soothe hard feelings among Western Balkan nations over the fast-tracking of Iceland’s bid to join the EU. It is not that easy to ward off any potential ill feeling in the Balkans after quickly accepting Iceland’s accession bid.
EU foreign ministers in Brussels on the 27th of July restated their, “Ʀull support for the European perspective of the Western BalkansŢ and promised to shortly recognize Albania’s application.
Albania applied for candidate status April 28 but it has still been “unseen” in the drawers of bureaucrats.
“I hope we will be able, in the next few months and stretching beyond the Swedish presidency, to give a new impetus to the integration process in the Western Balkans,” Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said.
“We must not lose sight of the need to further stabilize and integrate South East Europe,” enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn added.
The remarks came after the EU formally accepted Iceland’s request to join the bloc just three days after it was made. Balkan nations such as Montenegro have in the past had to wait up to four months for the green light.
Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Serbia are set to enjoy visa-free entry into the EU from 1 January 2010.
“I do not happen to have a Montenegrin one, but this is the key to visa free travel in the EU [passport-free] Schengen area,” the commissioner said, holding up a Serbian biometric passport.
Albania has also started this year to issue biometric passports. It hopes that by the end of the year it might have probably 200,000 of them delivered to the people.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has said that his new government is to do the utmost to make reforms in order to achieve the EU-required standards, including the visa-free regime.
To please Brussels surprisingly Berisha also said the government had sent a draft law on same-sex marriage, a move that sparked harsh debates and opposition from the religious communities.
EU-Balkan relations also are mired in bilateral problems on top of a negative political climate toward enlargement.
Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis said Greece would veto starting accession talks with FYROM unless the country changed its name, which is also the name of a Greek province.
Slovenia also blocked the opening of another negotiating chapter in Croatian talks amid an ongoing dispute over maritime borders.
That is not the case for Albania. The tiny western Balkan country should only continue reforms and upgrade its administration in line with the standards of the European Union.
The last June 28 parliamentary elections were also considered a serious test along that line. Their delay of issuing final results will likely not be a good push for the better.
The international observers are to give their evaluation in less than two months, which is just in time for Brussels to also issue its annual report on the country, in October.