Bushati: “Western Balkan, EU’s neglected garden”

Even so, says the article on The Japan News, the minister sounded a cautious tone on the EU’s position. “We have not seen yet a clear strategy [from the EU] on how to work with the Western Balkans,” he said, calling the region a “neglected garden” of the EU.

“Albania strongly hopes that the European Union will decide to begin membership talks with the former communist nation at the European Council meeting on June 28-29, to help cement its transition to a full-fledged market economy.”

“The time is ripe” for the EU to launch membership negotiations with Albania, Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati said. In April, the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — recommended that the leaders of the 28 member states decide to start accession talks with Albania and Macedonia, in light of the two countries’ progress in political and economic reforms.

Bushati started this Sunday a three-day visit in Japan to promote bilateral Albania-Japan relations and to meet with the Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, and officials of the Japanese Federation of Business, among others.

As for the EU enlargement, Bushati greeted the Commission’s report this February, which suggests that the Western Balkan countries, including Albania, could become EU members by 2025. “We see it as a motivating factor, to accelerate the reforms and fulfil the accession conditions”, the Minister said.

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