Brussels, 17/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Albania was not due to obtain its candidate status for accession to the EU at the General Affairs Council on 17 December - because of the opposition of several member states and the fact that granting candidate status requires unanimity. “I hope that we will postpone” the candidate status, said Denmark's European Affairs Minister Nicky Haekkerup. In Denmark's opinion, while Albania has made much progress, “we need a long track record” before granting candidate status. He stated that Denmark has “approximately” the same position as the Netherlands. France, Germany and the UK are reportedly also rather hostile to granting candidate status immediately.
The Netherlands' Minister for Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans did not want to speak openly against granting candidate status as he arrived at the Council, stating simply that no decision had yet been taken and that it could be left to the heads of state and government at the European Council. His Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, doubted this and said that the European Council's agenda was already fairly full.
The decision could be postponed until some time before June 2014, on the basis of a report from the European Commission. An official from a member state said a few weeks ago that attributing candidate status to Albania a few months before the European elections in May 2014 was perhaps not the best decision to take. According to a French source close to the issue, “several member states are asking questions on the substance and about the timetable”. The source said that questions are being posed about the rule of law, illegal immigration, organised crime, and human trafficking. On the issue of the timetable, “perhaps a few months are needed in order to go deeper”, the source added.
By contrast, eight countries spoke of their support, on 13 December, in a letter to the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU and to High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, which calls for candidate status to be granted. The ministers of Austria, Michael Spindelegger, Bulgaria, Kristian Vigenin, Croatia, Vesna Pusic, Estonia, Urmas Paet, Hungary, Janos Martonyi, Ireland, Eamon Gilmore, Italy, Emma Bonino, and Slovenia, Karl Ejvarec, expressed their “total support for a positive decision on granting candidate status to Albania”. “We firmly believe that Albania has fulfilled the conditions that the EU demanded. The Council should therefore grant Albania the status of candidate country. This would not only enable Albania to be encouraged to continue to work hard and maintain the pace of reforms, but it would also send a strong signal to other candidate countries and potential candidates that their work is rewarded”, the eight ministers state in their letter (our translation throughout).
At the time of going to press, discussions were still ongoing. (CG/transl.fl)