Bregu: “We need date for negotiations. EU: “Judiciary and decriminalization, main challenges”

“I have noted that every time that we talk about the EU integration historty of Balkan countries, the member countries are always the first to talk. It seems like when someone asks you and your mother answers for you,” the Democratic Party MP declared.

The former Albanian Minister of Integration declared that beyond the regional stability, good governing and democracy standards need to be monitored so that this process doesn’t turn endless for the Balkan countries.

According to Bregu, with the declaration that there is no enlargement within the next five years, the Commission encourages the governments of the region to focus only on national agendas during the 4 year term.

She insisted for more concrete things from Brussels, rather than empty rhetoric, and reiterated the request on preparing the country for the EU negotiations in the future. When asked if she had changed her view on integration after passing from the government to Parliament, Bregu said:

“The paradox is that while the process get closer to the realization, there is no final date for the destination. This makes the process difficult. It raises the expectancies, but without a calendar. This is not the right message for our governments. Soft and buttered messages from the Commission do not help our countries, with all due respect. The truth is there. If the standards are missing, we must progress and you should help us even more so that they are established. It always takes time, but we need to keep the challenge and the desire alive, rather than holding our breath until the member countries will be more acceptive to enlargement. I had not noticed it when I was part of the government, because in power you are more committed to reach results by the end of the day, and you really trust that the Parliament is there to support you, while this is not always true. Not even in principle, and it should not be like this. The Parliament is there to observe. Now that I am part of the Parliament I feel the major importance of the Parliament’s role for supervising this process. But even here there is no following about what we say. I don’t see any document of the Parliament, Commission or the EU Council that we can refer to. We discuss, we agree for a proposition, and then this is followed a little bit or not at all”, the Bregu said.

The representative of the European Council reacted and reminded the accession of Croatia, the negotiations with Montenegro, the candidacy of Serbia and Albania, the Stabilization-Association agreements with Bosnia and Kosovo, as developments proving that the enlargement is an ungoing procedure. Tiarna was mentioned several times during his intervention, especially for the judiciary reform and consensus between parties.

“We must be very careful, so that the notion of the ‘process’ is not replaced by ‘commitment for reforms’. In most of the cases it is clear which are the reforms to be realized so that the country can progress in this process. In Albania’s case, for instance, the judiciary reform is decisive for finalizing the next phase of the process. On this side, the work done on terrain is extremely encouraging and it seems there is increasing consensus and determination of all political parties to work on it, because, in the past, as we know it, one of the main difficulties that we meet in Balkan is the lack of consensus between parties so that they can work together on the EU integration agenda. The two main challenges of Albania are the judiciary reform and decriminalization. For us it is encouraging to see there is movement for consensus between parties. I think this would be a strong positive message from the government and the opposition in Albania. Albania received the candidate status and is progressing, in my opinion, very well as regards the future engotiations. This shows that despite everything, it is clear that the process is progressing, although not with the desired pace. The drafting of a vision is very important to answer voices that the enlargement is possible only in theory, because it’s not like that. These are the reforms and the engagement of the government is what concludes this”, said Simon Mordue, Director of the Strategy and Politics Unit “DG NEAR” at the EC.

Although no positive recommendation is expected for starting the accession negotiations, the EC published the evaluations for Albania on October 14th, together with the progress reports for the other Balkan countries and Turkey.

Prepared by: Arta TOZAJ

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