Barroso cancels visit in Tirana

“The President Barroso decided to postpone his May 20th visit in Albania. The aim of this trip, as he has explained during these days, was for discussing Albania’s perspective and the right way towards integration, especially the implementation of the 12 key recommendations presented by the Commission on the Progress Report for 2010. 
But the tensions coming out the vote count would damage the talks of President Barroso with the political leaders. This meeting would not bring productive meetings. This is what prompted the postponement of this trip. I believe that you have seen the declaration of the vice President Ashton. The trip will continue in the other countries as scheduled”, said the Spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen.

Natasha Butler, Spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule, declared:
“All I can say is that the election process is taking a lot of time and there are tensions for the moment, regarding the vote counting process. This is the reason why we decided to postpone the visit, as Pia explained. That’s why the President postponed his trip, until the situation will be normalized. We are talking about a special situation”.

When asked if the tense situation was considered as a physical danger for the European Commission President, or if it meant that the country did not deserve positive integration messages in such a situation, the Spokesperson replied:

“We gave a very clear message on why we canceled the visit. According to our point of view, the aim of the trip would be difficult to be accomplished, more specifically: the talks for the EU perspective, for Albania’s road toward integration and all the dimensions that this involves. We have discussed a lot about Albania these days, and I don’t want to repeat things. But this is the reason that made us cancel the visit. A visit that doesn’t enjoy the appropriate climate for productive meetings”, said Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen.

“As you know, the Central Election Commission has a key role for guaranteeing that all rules have been followed, that the legal structure is being implemented and that the vote recount rights are being respected. It has a key role for guaranteeing the process transparency. I think that we must leave the Central Election Commission do its job, to fulfill its mandate and make its role in full transparency. The election process should have been closed as soon as possible, as I said yesterday, and we should have seen the result by now”, Butler declared.

One day ago, Top Channel warned for a possible cancellation of Barroso’s visit in Tirana, based on sources from the President’s cabinet. The schedule change of this visit came after the tense situation created inside and outside the Central Election Commission. The conclusion was: “We were about to speak about your EU integration, but you are still politically immature, therefore we have nothing to speak about”.

Prepared by: Arta Tozaj

Top Channel