Europarlementariërs verheugd door politieke hervormingen Albanië ter voorbereiding op toekomstig EU-lidmaatschap (en)

MEPs welcomed Albania's progress towards EU candidate status in a Foreign Affairs Committee exchange of views with Albanian government and opposition representatives on Monday. The electoral and legal systems should take priority in reform efforts, said MEPs, with a view to the presidential election to be held in July.

"The EU integration process is a top objective for Albanian people", said Albania's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Edmond Haxhinasto, listing measures taken or to be taken to improve the country's parliamentary rules and the efficiency of the judicial system and civil service. He also cited fighting corruption and organised crime and enforcing intellectual property rights as government priorities.

Albania had "a comprehensive legislative framework" on human rights and respect of minorities, but more data was needed in order to "develop proper policies", he said, adding that efforts have focused on Roma inclusion, and to address gender-based violence and homophobia. On the Western Balkans, he said that Albania "actively contributes to regional cooperation", which is "the best antidote to address extremism, recently more present in the region".

Government must "match words with deeds"

"As a member of the opposition, I want to use this opportunity to renew the message that we consider the European integration process a national priority" said Ditmir Buchati, Chair of the Albanian Parliament's European Integration Committee.

However, "one may conclude that political agreements have produced only some of the political outcomes" and that political reform "has not been completed yet", he added, calling on the government to "match words with deeds", particularly on electoral reform.

"The political climate has improved"

"It's a pleasure to see them at the same time behind the same table (...), we are getting some good news from Tirana" said Eduard Kukan (EPP, SK). However, the country will be able to move forward with candidate status "only when reforms have materialised and produced tangible results", he added..

Nikolaos Chountis (GUE/NGL, EL), felt that "in fact, the political climate has improved". He asked Mr Haxhinasto about the possibility of a "consensual solution to the question of the election of the President". "It is a mature process (...), it is negotiable" Mr Haxhinasto replied.

"We've seen tremendous progress in the last six months" said Libor Rouaek (S&D, CZ). However, he stressed that Albania's "major weakness was of course the elections". Mr Rouaek called on the government to accept the OSCE recommendations and also voiced concern over cases of child abuse being reported by NGOs. "Albania should increase its peace and confidence building role" in the Western Balkans, he added.

Blood vendettas

Bastiaan Belder (EFD, NL), expressed concern about access to justice in Albania. He also highlighted the problem of the "literally hundreds of cases of blood vendettas". "This number is a bit exaggerated", replied Mr Haxhinasto, pointing to "official data" of only "5 cases" in 2011.

Regional stability

Whereas Mr Haxhinasto dismissed "ethnic rhetoric" in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kristian Vigenin (S&D, BG), saw signs of instability in the region and argued that Albania should be a stabilising factor in the Western Balkans, and especially the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo.

In the chair: Andrey Kovatchev (EPP, BG)

REF. : 20120511IPR44898

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