Spain supports Tirana’s integration steps

TIRANA, Jan. 27 – Spanish Ambassador in Tirana Manuel Montobbio said that Madrid supported Albania’s integration steps into the European Union.
Montobbio, together with European Commission Delegation Head Helmuth Lohan introduced Spain’s priorities during its six-month presidency this year.
Application of the Lisbon Treaty will be a key priority added with the efforts to overcome the difficulties of the economic crises in the bloc.
Montobbio also spoke about the bloc’s enlargement steps. He said that membership negotiations with Croatia would be concluded during Spain’s presidency until end of June this year.
He also said that visa liberalization would be another focus of interest. Albania together with Bosnia expects to get the visa-free regime in July this year. The EU also started negotiations with Kosovo on this issue.
Montobbio also said that the month of February will be very important for Albania as groups of experts from Brussels will visit Tirana to verify how the tiny Balkan country has fulfilled the requests of the visa road map.
The ambassador said that Tirana was in front of a serious challenge until 2011 when Brussels is expected to deal with the country’s answers on the questionnaire for the candidate status.
Tirana applied for the candidate status in April last year after it had become a NATO member. In December Brussels handed over a questionnaire with more than 2,000 questions that Tirana should respond in the next six months.
Then the bloc is to consider the responses to see if the country is capable of passing to the next level of the candidate status.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has based his second term in the post as that of the European integration also inviting the leftist Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) into the governing coalition.
The main priority of the new programme is the European membership, he has said.
In this context Foreign Minister Ilir Meta (of the LSI) has tried to enlarge Albania’s role in the western Balkans urging closer ties between the former communist countries as a step toward European integration.