TIRANA, July 8 – Religious affiliation is not a factor in a country’s chances and speed in joining the European Union or treatment it gets from Germany, the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel said during a visit to Tirana this week.
Merkel repeated on two separate occasions during her visit that Albania’s Muslim population is not hampering Albania’s European prospects.
“Many Muslims live in Albania,” she said. “But the perception of not wanting the Muslim population [to be integrated in the EU] is totally wrong,” she said.
Adding that Germany itself has a large Muslim population, Merkel said, “We have strongly committed ourselves in the integration of emigrants.”
More than 4 million Muslims live in Germany, Merkel said.
Many Albanians had reacted in anger a couple of years ago when anti-EU and fringe members of the the European Parliament questioned the wisdom of granting Albania candidate for membership status due to its membership in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
About 59 percent of Albania’s 2.8 million resident population declared Islam as they religion in the 2011 census, including the Sufi Bektashi order.
Albania’s Muslim population is largely secular, with practicing rates at about 10 percent, according to the most recent surveys.
It lives in full harmony with Albania’s Christian and nonreligious populations.
