NATO membership warms Albanian politics

TIRANA, Jan. 21 – The country’s possible invitation to join NATO during the April summit in Bucharest served to create a warm climate between the two rival political parties in the parliament Monday.
The parliament’s 6th session of the 17th legislature started with a resolution introduced by the main opposition Socialist Party regarding Albania’s NATO membership efforts.
The lawmakers offered unanimous approval of the resolution asking for necessary and needed steps to be realized ahead of the Bucharest summit in April.
Albanians consider NATO membership to be an integral part of their “country’s democratic future,” according to the resolution.
The political parties present in the parliament agreed that NATO membership required more commitment and their continuous collaboration to build a functional democracy in the country.
They agreed to “overcome the political conflicts and build a climate of trust among the parliamentary forces for all the reforms and the legal initiatives, asking for consensus based on the (country’s) constitution.”
The resolution specifically mentioned the consensus and the commitment to the legal and electoral reforms, considered to be the main priorities for the moment.
The lawmakers also reconfirmed their belief about the “regional peace, security, stability, good understanding and cooperation that will be further consolidated with the declaration of Kosova’s independence as a logical consequence and dynamics of the regional development and NATO’s direct involvement.”
The resolution was hailed by both sides.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party hailed the opposition’s support on the road toward NATO membership and said that the completion of the two major reforms in the justice and electoral process would “consolidate the fundamental mechanism of the free society.”
The premier also said that such collaboration should continue in the future as well.
“It will be our obligation to the Albanian citizens and the country’s dignity that every day we take concrete steps until the holding of the Bucharest summit,” he said.
Opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama added a proposal for a national pact to reform the judiciary, which is considered as the country’s main obstacle in its road towards post-communist democracy.
But not everything was rosy between the two ever-squabbling political parties.
Erjon Brace, deputy head of the Socialists’ parliamentary group, said that if Albania did not receive the NATO membership invitation in Bucharest then Berisha should resign.