Fleckenstein: “EU accession talks in Autumn, if Judiciary Reform is implemented”

The German Member of European Parliament said on this visit he will meet politicians and civil society members to discuss the report drafted by him, which was approved recently at the European Parliament.

The second purpose of this trip is the Judiciary Reform, so that Albania can hopefully start accession negotiations in Autumn.

The third reason is related to elections, for which Fleckenstein says he will have the ODIHR recommendations with him.

Fleckenstein will meet with opposition representatives, whose protest has conveyed the message that they don’t trust the government to hold free elections.

“The opposition is always afraid before the elections. To see if this fear is realistic, I will have to create an impression during these days in Albania”, Fleckenstein said.

The Deutsche Welle journalist also asked Fleckenstein about opposition’s concerns that votes will be purchased with dirty money.

“This accusation needs to be proven. It is always difficult to do this before the elections. But the people who participate must know that if the elections are not correct, there will be problems with the EU negotiations. A lot will depend on how well are all parties going to respect the rules of the game, which in Europe are known as free and fair elections”, Knut Fleckenstein declared.

“It is important to not have candidates without a criminal past, and to not have purchased votes”, Fleckenstein said, adding that if the Vetting Law will be put in motion, chances to start accession talks are huge, since all fractions at the European Parliament have admitted that the Albanian government and the Parliament have done a lot for the EU progress.

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