The Danish Ambassador, Karsten Ankjær Jensen, has analyzed the progress
report of the European Union for Albania, and has compared it with a
school annual report card filled with negative grades. This speech that
the Ambassador held during an activity and that was published on the
newspaper Tirana Times, is titled: “Honoring Albania’s Potential”, and
starts with these words:
“I know what happens when someone tries to deal with the tricky political matters, and obviously, I have no intention to get in the middle (fall in the trap) of the harsh political war of who must be blamed for Albania’s EU failure to receive the candidate status. I don’t want that what I am saying gets perceived as pro or against this or that political party.
Different to what some circles believe, the ambassadors don’t come in Tirana to join left or right winged parties or to become warriors of their political fractions. For the ambassadors of the European Union, our common objective is to make everything possible to help Albania getting ready for the EU membership.
This is an historical objective that stands above the small daily politics or anyone else that might be in government or opposition. Our priority, in our efforts as EU ambassadors, is Albania and the Albanians. I think that most of the Albanians should understand this better.
I am sorry to say that the political debate that followed the report did not help with Albania’s approach to the candidate status.
Trying to blame the other side and refusing to admit the responsibility showed that the required level of political maturity has not been achieved by the Albanian political class.
You can compare the reaction of other countries, such as Kosovo, whose politicians immediately undertook the necessary measures for the problems of the report, and did not happen what is happening in Albania.
Those who have read the long report know that the current political stalemate is a small part of the concerning cases mentioned in the Commission’s document.
Those who haven’t read it, I urge them to do it, but they must know that it is an accurate analyze that shows how Albania and its institutions have functioned in the last year.
Is there any progress on how the police is enforcing law, how schools are functioning? Are the indispensable resources and experts present in the ministries? Have the promises been kept? Has rule of law progressed? Are the Parliamentary sessions more democratic? Do specific politics categories fulfill the EU standards? Unfortunately, most of these areas have negative or simply poor grades, compared to last year’s”, Jensen declared.
But who is responsible for this negative evaluation?
“The Progress Report was sent to the government, because in the last analyze, the government is mostly responsible by what has been mostly analyzed in the progress report.
The progress report is like an annual report card that shows what the government has achieved in the last month. I don’t say this for being controversial or partisan, because this is a fact. But this simple fact can be seen as very controversial or partisan in the Albanian context, and this maybe is the indicator for the political state in Albania.
By reading the other reports of the region, it is clear that Albania is not following the necessary steps and in some areas it is like Balkan’s “strange person”. By the perspective of the European Union, the Albanian people are European in their hearts and culture. I am Danish, and when I see with what have the Albanians been blessed, I don’t understand why Albania is not in the head of the European Union.
I have heard Albanian politicians mentioning Denmark as a perfect example of what can be achieved, but on from my perspective it is difficult to understand why Albania is not better than Denmark. I think that the explanation to this is that the Danish think and act as one nation, one people. The Albanians act like individuals or family members”, the ambassador declared.
The report-progress of the European Commission was published on October 12th and concluded that although there has been progress, Albania has not fulfilled the conditions for starting the EU membership negotiations.
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