TIRANA, March 2, 2022 – Albania is urging the European Union to accelerate the region’s European integration process in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister said in a meeting with EU and US representatives on Tuesday.
Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka requested more European Union attention to the Western Balkans as a region where Russia has a history of “fermenting tensions.”
“For a long time we have been calling on our partners, especially in the EU, to be more strategic in their relations with the Western Balkans. The events in Ukraine are proof that our concerns were justified. This makes it very clear that the cost of isolation is much higher than the cost of integration,” Xhaçka said.
She added that Russia’s attack on Ukraine necessitated “more urgency to move forward with the integration process and, above all, to move forward and confront any Russian attempt to ferment trouble.”
Albania’s EU integration process has slowed down considerably in the past several years, after the country was granted candidate status, with delay after delay in opening of membership negotiations.
Ukraine was symbolically recommended to become an EU candidate country on Tuesday after it sent in an application to the EU in the midst of Russia’s attack. On the seventh day of the invasion, Russian troops continued to advance west. Half a million refugees have already left the country.
Albania has acted swiftly to join all EU sanctions on Russia and supports all Euro-Atlantic policies on Ukraine as a NATO member, including closing Albania’s airspace to all Russian carriers and Russian-registered aircraft.
