One day after the meeting of the European Union Council of Ministers,
the German Ambassador to Tirana, Helmut Hoffman, declared in an
interview for Top Channel his position on why the status had to be
postponed in June 2014.
According to the German chief diplomat, there is no question about the positive efforts of the Rama government, but he underlined that for Germany and the other European Union members, the decision will be more real if they will have more time to review it.
“It’s just a matter of time, and six months are not that much”, the German diplomat declared.
Top Channel: Mr. Ambassador, what is your comment for yesterday’s decision from the Council of Ministers regarding Albania’s candidate status?
Helmut Hoffmann: First of all, let me say that I speak only for Germany. My advise for Albania and the Albanian people is to focus on the good news that comes from the meeting of the Council of Ministers. I see two essential bases on this. First of all, the European Union Ministers have recognized the progress that Albania has reached towards the European integration. Secondly, which is more important, the next meeting in June is an operational date that derives from the conclusions. For the German government it was important deciding a deadline, not only to not allow the encouragement of other voices. That’s why we asked for a specific date. This was not easy, but now that it happened we are happy about it, and I think that six months are not that long. This is a good reason to be positive for this development.
The full interview will be posted after the main news edition of 19:30.
Top Channel
