“This year we are asking the member countries about what they want from
us. Do they want to repeat ourselves even for the next year, if the
terrain wants this? Because we need few instructions from the member
countries…”
The Commissioner for enlargement, Stefan Fule, appeared tired, cold and ironic at the “Friends of Europe” annual conference on Balkan, “A Fast or Slow Lane”. While mentioning the repeated recommendations to the Commission for Macedonia, the Commissioner declared that the enlargement process is being controlled politically by the member countries, and that it is time to act politically.
For Albania, he reiterated that the three conditions of last year have been fulfilled and that he was impressed from the new government and the opposition’s involvement in fight against organized crime. The Council should take in consideration the weekly basic data update from Tirana about the fight against organized crime and corruption.
When asked by Top Channel if what Albania has done so far was enough, and if the Commissioner’s letter to the member countries was to convince them for a positive decision about the candidate status, and if the country could progress and open the negotiations within the mandate of the current Commissioner for Enlargement, Fule answered:
Stefan Fule, Commissioner for Enlargement: The candidate status is not something that is visibly linked with the given criteria. If there are criteria, those are politically motivated. The candidate status, especially in Balkan, is to value the efforts that have been made and to encourage reforms. In my mind, I am clear that we have reached that point, as regards Albania, that it is guaranteed that it is delivering in both areas. Predictions for further steps during my mandate as a Commissioner depends on Albania. The entire ideal of high level dialogue for the five key criteria is to help the country take care of the priority criteria that stand between Albania and the Commission’s recommendation for opening the negotiations. We are now working on the instructions of how they will be treated for our recommendation, and the implementation is totally up to them. Without speculations, let me underline that this is not the agenda drawn by the Enlargement Directory and my cabinet, but it depends on how the hopefully candidate status will deliver its homework.
Without commenting if Albania is on the fast lane or not, the Albanian Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, focused on “stability and security” of reforms, especially for the rule of law and economic performance. According to him, enlargement is a political process, but credibility is also important.
The representative for Media Freedom in the OSCE, Dunia Mijatovic, declared that the thermometer in Balkan is the media. She declared that Albania and Serbia are on the fast lane on this point, since there is a clear political will of both respective governments to progress in the right path.
A similar and optimistic evaluation was shared by the Slovakian Foreign Minister, Miroslav Lajcak, who said that Serbia and Albania are now on the fast lane, and that this example should be followed by other Balkan countries.
Prepared by: Arta Tozaj
Top Channel
