Leden Comité van de Regio's pleiten voor toekennen kandidaat-status aan Albanië (en)

Members of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and local representatives from Albania met on 15 November in the framework of the Working Group on Western Balkans to discuss the current situation as regards the enlargement process and Albania's latest progress from a local perspective. CoR members welcomed Albania's substantial reform efforts and supported the European Commission's recommendation to grant Albania EU candidate status.

The 12th meeting of the Working Group on Western Balkan focussed on the political and social reforms taking place in Albania as a potential candidate country to the EU, as well as on the issues of transparency, good governance and accountability at local level. The debate was particularly timely with the European Commission recently recommending that Albania be granted EU candidate status, subject to further reforms in areas such as judicial and public administration and the revision of the parliamentary rules of procedure. The Council is due to discuss the Commission's proposal in December.

Opening the meeting, Mia De Vits, Member of Flemish Parliament and newly appointed chair of the Working Group, emphasised that: "Even in troubled times, the European Union has to guarantee positive aspirations and hope. As this was recognised by the attribution of the Peace Nobel Prize this year, the EU has always been - and should remain - a symbol of peace, stability and welfare. At the same time the EU needs the enthusiasm and confidence of the candidate countries and in particular of Albania, a country which has one of the highest levels of EU support." Given the important progress made by Albania, Ms De Vits expressed her full support for the country to be granted EU candidate status, while recognising that work still needs to be done to fulfil the conditions of EU integration. In this regard, she noted: "the importance of the further implementation of decentralisation measures and the strengthening of administrative capacity and financial sustainability of Albanian municipalities as a necessary precondition for the successful implementation of the National Strategy for Development and Integration."

The Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Albania to the EU, Mimoza Halimi, stressed that since November 2011, political dialogue and cooperation between Albania and the EU has considerably improved, allowing for progress in core reform areas, such as the proper functioning of parliament and electoral reform. "In all areas covered by the twelve key priorities [listed in the Commission's progress report], we have to work hard and deliver further tangible results in particular on implementation." The Ambassador also insisted on the central role of the local and regional authorities to enhance accountability, transparency and good governance: "Our local and regional authorities are making good progress in delivering services close to citizens. Most of our municipalities, communes and regional councils have designed their own strategic economic and social plans, based on a participatory planning approach and we ought to develop and intensify relations with EU local and regional authorities in terms of “twinning projects”."

Presenting the European Commission's 2012 progress report for Albania, Jose Castrillo Villar, policy officer in the Albania Unit in DG Enlargement, underlined that significant reform results have been delivered with the fulfilment of a number of key priorities defined by the Commission (e.g. appointment of an ombudsman, electoral reform, maintaining a constructive regional role) as preconditions to start accession's negotiations.

As regards progress made in the decentralisation process, Jorida Tabaku, Deputy Mayor of Tirana, expressed her will to strengthen collaboration between local and regional authorities so as to play a key role in the EU integration. "More decentralisation means more responsibilities and more challenges to tackle, but we have to do our best to reach EU candidate status", she said.

In a lively exchange between the CoR members of the Working Group and the representatives of Albania's two associations of local authorities, Agron Haxhimali and Fatos Hodaj, the importance of close cooperation and coordination between all levels of governance and across political divides was emphasised.

The Working Group on relations with Western Balkans meets twice a year. It is composed of 11 CoR members and local and regional representatives from the Western Balkans whose number varies according to the country and the topics discussed.