Brussels, 24/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 24 June, the General Affairs Council decided to grant Albania EU accession candidate status. “In line with its conclusions of 17 December 2013 (see EUROPE 10987), the Council welcomes the Commission's report of 4 June (see EUROPE 11094) and, in light of its examination of Albania's continued progress, decides to grant Albania candidate status”, the EU ministers stated in their conclusions, despite the reluctance of several member states last week. The decision to grant this status must now be approved by the heads of state and government on 26-27 June. Albania applied for candidate status in April 2009. “Albania has come a little closer to the EU. An important step has been taken on the long road to accession”, said Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle. He stated that the granting of this status should be seen as an encouragement for Albania to continue and to adopt the necessary reforms in order to prepare well for the negotiating phase. No indication of a date for the opening of accession negotiations was given.
While Albania has been rewarded for its efforts, the EU ministers nevertheless called for a great deal of fresh progress. “Without the democratic structures, without a stable rule of law, without judicial independence and mandates, without a coherent fight against corruption there can be no accession to the EU”, warned Germany's minister, Michael Roth, before the Council.
Hailing the roadmap adopted by Albania on the key priorities, the Council asked the European Commission to use this roadmap as a basis and to “intensify its [the Commission's] support, monitoring and assessment of Albania's reform process, including in the context of the high level dialogue on the key priorities and through close interaction with member states”. In the ministers' opinion, the Commission should focus on securing “concrete results” on all the updated priorities, “based on credible and measurable targets and timeframes, with reliable data and statistics”. The ministers also asked the Commission “to report, in addition to the Enlargement Package and on the basis of the output of the high level dialogue, in a comprehensive and detailed manner on Albania's progress on the key priorities”.
The EU ministers agreed on very precise criteria. Albania will thus have to “act decisively on all of the recommendations in the Commission's report and intensify its efforts to ensure a sustained, comprehensive and inclusive implementation of the key priorities”. The Council particularly mentions reform of the public administration and the judiciary, the fight against organised crime and corruption, the protection of human rights and anti-discrimination policies including in the area of minorities and their equal treatment, and implementation of property rights.
Corruption and crime are also highlighted by the Council. In the EU ministers' view, it is important for Tirana to intensify its anti-corruption efforts and to implement its anti-corruption strategy and action plan. Albania must also strengthen cooperation between law enforcement agencies, and establish a solid track record of investigations, prosecutions and convictions in cases of corruption and organised crime, particularly organised immigration crime, the use of fraudulent documents, money laundering, drug cultivation and human trafficking. The Council also underlines the importance for Albania of strengthening the independence, transparency and accountability of the judiciary, “including to provide greater legal certainty for economic operators and to increase investor confidence”.
The EU ministers called on Albania to strengthen its support for quickly reducing migratory pressure on the EU. They particularly highlight Albania's continued efforts to ensure the respect of all the conditions of the roadmap on visas and the adoption of new measures to settle the issue of unfounded requests for asylum from Albanian nationals.
The Council reiterated that a “continued and sustainable” dialogue between the government and the opposition on EU-related reforms remained “an important factor for Albania to advance on its EU integration path”. (CG)