The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ditmir Bushati, said that 2025 for EU integration is not the date for a goal, but an encouragement.
The Minister said that Albania expects to open the accession negotiations with the EU in April.
“The data strategy offers a horizon based on which the countries can use their instruments for their enlargement perspective. It is not a matter of date. Dates are important to motivate the countries’ progress. An important part of the strategy is the clear appeal that the European Commission makes for focusing on the reform process. I reiterated this at the meeting of Foreign Ministers, that these are important reforms, but reforms in the rule of law cannot be considered isolated by a stable economic development. This is why it is important for the EU and Western Balkan to decide these enlargement strategy components in a balance. The other fact we need to keep in consideration is the disagreements that are still existent in the region as regards recognition of states, cooperation with international courts and European affiliations in concrete actions. These are hot potatoes when it comes to discussion, but dates should be taken into account because the strategy takes lessons from all other enlargement processes, making countries find mutual solutions to these problems before accession”, Bushati declared.
The enlargement strategy presented by the end of February by the EU brings for the first time a document for Balkan that has keywords such as transformation, enlargement process and consolidation of reforms, all related to each other.
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