Visa liberalization turns into a political issue

TIRANA, Nov 16 – Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said that the opposition Socialist Party’s parliamentary boycott did not hinder the visa liberalization process Albania was seeking to achieve next year.
Berisha said the governing majority was ready to establish a parliamentary panel to look into the Socialists’ demands on manipulation of the June 28 vote.
The Socialists say the boycott will continue until an investigation is conducted. A small group of lawmakers, five of them, are against the boycott calling on their colleagues to quit the boycott for the sake of EU integration reforms and return to parliament next week.
The Socialist Party hailed the adoption of the European Parliament resolution on the visa liberalization for Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro as well as the joint expression of readiness by the part of the European Parliament and the European Council for the enabling of the visa liberalization process for
But the opposition also blamed the government for the fact that the country did not join the three regional countries for the visa liberalization.
“We call on Berisha’s government to give up the unhealthy propaganda which is aimed at finding the guilt in the opposition and to focus in doing the ‘homework.’ We especially request: The implementation of anticorruption programs for the members of the government’s court who are vested with immunity. The guarantee for the stability of the State Police staff for which international partners have shown a special interest through funds and trainings. The giving up from abusive practices related to appointments and discharges of staff which have turned the State Police into a weapon of the ruling ones. The implementation of an action plan for the integrated border management in frame of the cross-border crime. The cooperation among agencies when it comes to tackling organized crime and the giving up from blackmailing justice institutions,” they said.
It is very likely that Albania will have completed the required reforms until early next year. An EU delegation will visit the country late this year to check them. If completed the tiny Balkan country may likely get the go-ahead approval from Brussels next summer.
Citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia may be able to travel to most European Union member states without a visa as of next month, if ministers endorse draft rules adopted by the European Parliament today (12 November).
The rules were originally drafted by the European Commission; an amended document was adopted by Parliament yesterday, with 550 MEPs in favor, 51 against and 37 abstaining.
Member states’ interior or foreign ministers are now expected later this month or in early December to turn the document into legislation. The new rules are to come into effect on 19 December.
Kosovo, whose independence has not been recognized by all EU member states, is not included in the scheme.
Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to meet the technical criteria in time for December, but MEPs inserted language into the Commission proposal to stress that the two countries were on track for a second round, possibly by the middle of next year.
MEPs had been lobbying hard to insert language into the draft decision that is to be approved by EU member states’ ministers that holds out the prospect of visa liberalization for Albania and Bosnia. Jelko Kacin, a senior liberal MEP from Slovenia, said that it would be “divisive, unfair and create instability” if the two countries were left out for a long time. He said that this also applied to Kosovo and that the liberal group in the Parliament “regretted” that the process of abolishing visa requirements had not yet begun there