Ready ‘in principle’ for candidate status, Albania looks to modernize state and society for full EU membership ‘within the next 10 years’
TIRANA, Sept. 17 – Albania is ready “in principle” to gain EU candidate status later this year, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after a meeting in Brussels with new Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. However, Barroso added the country needs to keep the focus on key priorities like the fight against organized crime and corruption as well as political consensus in order to further move forward its EU bid.
Rama said his government is committed to not only quickly achieve candidate status, for which he also gave credit to previous governments, but also to the open accession negotiations, a key step in Albania’s EU integration process.
“It’s of vital importance for us, but we also know that Albania must deserve it, and we are committed to do what it takes for you to decide in our favor, based on results and not just good will statements,” Rama said at the press conference with Barroso. In a later interview with EuroNews Television he said he wants to see “Albania become a full EU member within 10 years.”
But to do so, Albania needs to start with a critical look at EU membership, focusing on furthering the transformation needed at home to meet that goal, said Albert Rakipi, the executive director at the Albanian Institute for International Studies.
“The critical approach should consist of an agenda of rule of law and law enforcement, fight against corruption, the proper functioning of the justice system, strengthening public order and the functioning of all institutions based on constitutional law,” says Rakipi. “There also needs to be hard work to build an internal political consensus on the integration agenda, because if one evaluates the integration agenda by achievements in the issues mentioned above, then there remains a lot of work to do.”
Rakipi added that it is key to modernize how the Albanian state and Albanian society operate, because that’s what it takes to advance the agenda of European integration.
“Some of the messages the new government has sent are very encouraging. It appears it is willing to build consensus with the opposition notwithstanding the fact that it has a strong majority to push for reforms,” he said.
EU integration an inclusive ‘national effort’
Consensus with the opposition was also a repeated request in a series of meeting that in addition to the one with Barroso, Rama held with the European Unions’ highest officials, including with Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council.
“The government needs to continue building on achievements and ensure an inclusive dialogue and constructive co-operation with the opposition. Concrete progress on the EU path depends entirely on Albania and its success in obtaining results in key reform areas,” Van Rompuy said after a meeting with Rama. “A candidate status is becoming ever more realistic. I encourage you to continue on this path. There is no doubt that Albania’s future lies within the European Union.”
Echoing those remarks Barroso called for a national effort toward EU membership.
“European Union integration needs to be a real national effort and an inclusive project נnot just for this or that party. It is very important for the credibility of the process that it appears with a broad consensus as a national project, because it is not just a traditional, diplomatic negotiation process,” Barroso said. “To a large extent it is a transformational project that needs the involvement, not only of the government, but of the state institutions, of the social partners, of the society, namely for the modernization.”
Albania’s integration efforts have stalled for years, primarily due to political disagreements over election irregularities. With the June elections deemed to meet the best international standards, Albania hopes to finally get the candidate status in December.
“Albania can achieve the candidate status this year, in principle. But still some efforts are required,” Barroso said in a joint press conference. “There is no time to lose. The next few weeks are critical if you want to achieve this goal.”
Rama said he believed Albania would get the status, and seemed to be looking at the next move down the road. “We also believe that we should work hard toward the goal of opening of negotiations,” he said, adding that would bring Albania’s EU efforts to a new level of obligations and opportunities. He said his government would its best and believed that with the support of the commission, Albanians and the political opposition there would good news from Brussels.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule also urged for constructive cooperation between the government and the opposition.
“Constructive cooperation between government and opposition will be essential to tackle the challenges on Albania’s path towards the European Union,”Commissioner F
