The Finnish Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, who is attending an official visit in Tirana, expressed in a press release with his counterpart, Gent Cakaj, his country’s full support for opening Albania’s EU accession negotiations.
Haavisto underlined that the Western Balkans is a region in the heart and Europe and that Helsinki wants Albania to open the EU accession negotiations.
“The Western Balkans is not a far-ended corner. It is in the heart of Europe. We support the negotiations that are being held with Montenegro and Serbia, and we want Albania and Northern Macedonia as well to start with the procedures. The decision should be unanimous from all of the European countries. There is dialogue undergoing between all of our countries and Tirana, in order to evaluate the progress that has been made so far. The Balkan countries are not implementing such changes because of the EU, but for the sake of their own progress. These steps are part of democracy and democratic transparency”, the Finnish Minister declared.
Pekka Haavisto criticized the EU countries that want to focus on an internal reformation of the Union, shifting the attention away from the enlargement process with the Balkan countries.
“Internal issues should not be a reason to create obstacles for the enlargement process”, Haavisto declared.
Minister Cakaj, on the other hand, when asked if Albania and Northern Macedonia should be treated separately on this matter, underlined that “such process in not in the current agenda”.
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