Fule: Reforms, before President

“It is critically significant to conclude the November agreement and the electoral reform before the Presidential election. It is critically significant to achieve this before May 24th, because it is the only way for the November package and its finalization to be part of the solution, otherwise I fear that the November package could become part of the problems”, declared the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fule.

Asked by Top Channel, the majority and the opposition gave their respective stances regarding this deadline.

“The deadlines should be respected, because they are as important as the quality of the law amends. We shared our assessment with the Commissioner, that the deadline is not an unmovable wall, with the condition to give positive results and solutions for some suspended matters and for which we are discussing even today”, declared the Foreign Minister, Edmond Haxhinasto.

“In politics, 10 days are more than enough and everything can happen. I believe that if there will be political will, we can achieve it much sooner than May 24th”, declared the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for Integration, Ditmir Bushati.

As for the President, the European Union reiterated that the election process should be according the Constitutional spirit. When asked by Top Channel if the electoral reforms are enough for receiving the status, the EU Commission and the Danish Presidency answered:

“My answer to the question if the electoral reform is enough, is no. This is the reason why we set the 12 key priorities, and this means that not only one of the priorities should be fulfilled. As for the question if the EU candidate status will be made possible this year, I think that this is up to Albania and the Albanian politicians. We have asked two things to the Commission: one is to help and ease the political process, and the other is to observe the progress that has been achieved”, declared Villy Sovndal, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“This is not just a test where you will only have to fill in some squares. You are right to say that the evidence, especially for the war against corruption, are an indispensable part for this”, Fule declared.

After the meeting, a joint declaration listed the tasks that our country needs to fulfill and a summary of the joint stance of the EU member countries for Albania, which was published by Top Channel last week.

Prepared by: Arta Tozaj

Top Channel