TIRANA, Feb. 17 – During the EU’s Informal Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers taking place this weekend in Sofia, Western Balkan (WB) countries were once again called to reinforce all EU required reforms before joining the union.
European Commissioner of Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn spoke after the recently published, new EU strategy paper concerning Western Balkans’ membership, where 2025 was set as the deadline and Serbia and Montenegro were mentioned as front-runners.
“We all accept there are conditions to be fulfilled, and that quality comes before speed,” Hahn said during the meeting.
One of the strategy’s main conditions for WB countries being patching relations with neighbors, many EU members have been hesitant to give recommendations for a region still suffering from the wars of past decades and with a reputation for disregard towards the rule of law.
EU members states have previously said that countries like Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina should work harder to improve their democratic credentials and get rid of corruption and organized crime.
Albania in particular has been asked to deliver long-lasting effects in its justice reform and police vettings, so that alleged corrupt ties between the state and organized crime can come to an end.
Albania’s Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati also attended the Sofia meeting. In his speech, Bushati highlighted Albania’s efforts to counter extremism and the country’s complete alignment with EU regulation in order to tackle the union’s security concerns.
He also spoke of the increased need for EU intervention in the WB, in the context of a partnership aimed at facing common challenges.
Bushati’s comments come right after Albania signed an agreement with the EU’s border agency, FRONTEX, through which it effectively handed over much of the control of Albania’s border management.
Commenting on the new EU strategy paper, Bushati said he’d wished the paper was more detailed in its instructions, but that nonetheless offered enough guidance for the realisation of Albania’s six main reform goals.
“We want to cooperate with the commission and member states for the materialization of the six major initiatives that would potentially bring us closer to the EU,” Bushati said.
He added the process and quality of these initiatives is more important than meeting the 2025 deadline, when asked whether Albania could become an union member “on time” .
