Dutch opinionist on Financial Times: “The EU must protect, not discard, Albania’s reforms”

In an article for Financial Times, Willem van Nieuwkerk, Director of the Center for Legal Cooperation in Hague, said in an opinion for Financial Times that the EU should protect Albania’s reform, not discard them.

“Barely noticed amid the EU’s political debates over Brexit, migration and the fight against terrorism, a well thought-out reform agenda has been followed in the Republic of Albania, showing that it is possible to seed and grow confidence in the rule of law in a formerly totalitarian state. Sadly, despite the key role of Dutch experts including my organisation in developing these reforms, the Dutch parliament has just ordered the government to block further progress in formal EU accession talks with the country. I understand the Dutch political pressures behind this decision, but I can only regret the international implications and the likely repercussions in Albania itself”, Willem van Nieuwkerk writes.

He reminds how Albania’s reforms were considered as very courageous in the last summit in Bulgaria, and how difficult it is for foreigners to really understand this about Albania.

Nieuwkerk and others like him trust that Albania’s model will work, but the results will be shown in time.

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