Justice Reform, hopes for negotiations

France, one of the key countries for EU decision-making is ready to support Albania to notlose this Spring, due to the missing justice reform.

“There is still more work to do, but after meeting the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, I was able identify that the progress made by Albania in the past two years have been considerable. The purpose now is to have a positive report by the European Commission, when they will review the situation for a report-recommendation by the end of this year. This report ahs to be positive and convince all the member countries to start the membership negotiations. This requires more work, but France will be together with Albania in this new phase”, says Harlem Desir, State Secretary for European Matters.

For the Brussels recommendation to be positive, the European Partners want convincing evidence that the country is making progress and that the justice reform remains the most significant test.

“From five priorities, there are five others for which more work is needed to be done. The justice reform will bass in the next weeks. It will be a very important phase. There are also other sectors, such as fight against corruption and organized crime. There have been reforms in all these sectors. What we want, and France will support Albania with this, is to go to the end of these reforms and find a positive stance from the European Commission”, Desir said.

The Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, requested cooperation between the government and the opposition for passing the justice reform. So far there has been only a small correspondence between Edi Rama and Lulzim Basha, without correspondence.

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