Local ownership of European integration

TIRANA, Nov. 20- The integration process can not succeed without the respective local actors taking over ownership was one of the debated topics in the conference organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) organized on Tuesday. The conference titled “EU integration: the local ownership of the process.” The main themes that participants addressed were the regional experience in the Albanian and Macedonian perspective. Conference moderator and AIIS Executive Director, Albert Rakipi opened the debate by making a call to overcome the syndrome seeing the EU as “a travel agency” with free movement benefits and paying close attention to the regional experience in order to draw the responsibility of taking over the ownership of the process.
Deputy Foreign Minister, Albert Gajo addressed some important points of the transformation of EU funds according to local needs. The most positive development according to Gajo was the transformation of CARDS to IPA that can be better managed by local expertise tailored to local needs. This increases efficiency as well as impact and gives more responsibility to local actors. Gajo concluded with a call for a common road map platform for the future integration steps that needs the consent of opposition and political consensus in general. Head of Parliamentary Commission for Integration, Ilir Meta spoke on the role of the Parliament as one of the key actors with direct responsibilities for adapting the law to European requests. Meta was critical of his commission and the Laws commission explaining that the expertise is behind desirable levels. Meta also expressed his concern that the EU feedback for the Parliament has not been used constructively. Meta called for more discipline as well as a dynamic vision on the side of the Parliament and respect for the National Strategy for Development and Integration. “We need ambition as well as a concrete disciplined agenda to stick to,” Meta concluded.
German Ambassador, Berndt Borchardt, gave an outward perspective especially addressing issues like the enlargement fatigue and the need to balance enthusiasm with knowledge. “In Thessaloniki, the heads of state and governments have underscored that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the European Union. This commitment remains unchallenged. As far as Germany is concerned, our government parties has included this commitment in their coalition agreement already in 2005.
This commitment rests on our conviction that the Western Balkans are part of Europe, and that stability and security in the Western Balkans are a subset of security and stability in Europe” the ambassador guaranteed.
Macedonian scholars, Dane Taleski addressed the importance of public opinion, popular support as generator of political consensus about integration related reforms bringing the example of Macedonia. Other Macedonian scholars such as Turker Miftar and Vesna Ivanovska addressed issues of legal adaptation and regional cooperation. “Uncritical support is not a carte blanche for the success of the process,” Taleski explained – “sometimes it rushes the decision because the expectations are limited in vision and patience.”
Albanian scholars, Ilir Ciko and Ismail Beka addressed economic issues of integration while Zemaida Mozali spoke bout cross-border cooperation as a functional device towards integration. AIIS researcher Dorarta Hyseni presented a publication of the institute ‘Regional cooperation for development and European integration.’