Brussels, 15/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle has urged Albania's feuding political parties to set aside their differences so the Balkan state can make better progress in its quest to join the European Union. “We have clear evidence over the past years that the country and its politicians are able to achieve significant progress”, he told members of the joint parliamentary committee on Albania in Brussels on Tuesday 14 June. He said the smooth implementation of a stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) had proved Tirana's “ability to firmly progress on the European path provided there is a clear political will”.
Speaking less than a week after Croatia concluded its EU membership negotiations with the Commission, Füle welcomed a revised action plan that Albania submitted last week and said that his staff would now examine it carefully. He urged Albania to end its political stalemate, make further progress on judicial reform and implement measures to better fight corruption and organised crime. The Commission is due to publish a new progress report on Tirana's efforts to implement EU-oriented reform in mid-October.