On Saturday 26 August, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn announced the appointment by mid-September of coordinators in each of the six Western Balkans countries to set up the regional economic area that was decided upon at the summit in Trieste on 12 July (see EUROPE 11827).
“Today (Ed: 26 July) there has been an agreement to appoint sherpas, ‘regional coordinators’, in each of the prime ministers’ offices to ensure that in each ministry, in each chamber of commerce, people are committed to the reform agenda. These six sherpas will be appointed by mid-September so they can really become involved in the implementation” of the economic area, Hahn told press after an informal meeting of the leaders of the six Westerns Balkan countries that took place in Albania.
Hahn stated that the roadmap for creating this area consisted of 115 elements. And according to Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama, if some of these measures were implemented it would enable savings of €900 million, which would then be available for national budgets. “We have such problematic interconnections when it comes to trade that every year we lose 3 million hours in customs (…)”, he said.
While exports from the Western Balkans to the EU have doubled over ten years to stand at €46 billion, trade itself between the six countries has not, however, increased.
Albanians cannot seek asylum in the EU
Hahn and Rama discussed relations between the EU and Albania. The commissioner said that it was “unrealistic to believe that someone can obtain asylum-seeker status in the EU as an Albanian”. He added that it was detrimental for the country, while hailing the efforts of the Albanian authorities to reduce the number of Albanian asylum seekers.
“Asylum is not an option”, Rama stated, refusing that his country should be singled out when it comes to this issue or that of organised crime. “Crime does not have any nationality”, he said, at a time when Dutch prosecutors have reportedly called for the reintroduction of visas for Albanians because of a rise in organised crime from this country. Rama said it was “unacceptable” to connect a people with crime. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)