Brussels, 16/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Albania has no choice - if it wants to become a candidate country and join the EU one day, it has to meet all the Copenhagen criteria including interactive dialogue between government and opposition, explained EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 15 February 2011: “Albania must meet all of the Copenhagen criteria including interactive, political dialogue and a functioning parliament.” He said it's “all or nothing” and the EU will not let Albania cherry-pick and choose. Tirana must implement all 12 priorities identified by the Commission in its October 2010 progress report, such as improving the way democratic institutions and political dialogue work, the rule of law and the judiciary, tackling organised crime and protecting human rights, explained Füle. In January 2011, the European Commission produced a roadmap for the Albanian government to get out of the current deadlock but the offer was not taken up. “It is not too late. If we receive irreversible signals that there is a mutual willingness to use this European framework to gradually overcome the political stalemate and the recent crisis, then we will respond positively”, said the commissioner, calling on the head of the Socialist opposition, Edi Rama (Mayor of Tirana), to act as “constructive opposition”. The opposition believes that the June 2009 elections were falsified and therefore refuses to cooperate with the government. Local elections are planned for May 2011. During the debate at the EP, several MEPs called on the Albanian political elite to bear ordinary people's interests in mind and not put the prospects of joining the EU any further in peril. (H.B./transl.fl)