On Thursday 21 June, Albania's Justice Minister Etilda Gjonaj said the decision of the EU member states on whether or not to open accession negotiations with her country was political and did not really depend on Albania's progress. The European foreign affairs ministers will focus on this issue when they meet in Luxembourg on 26 June.
"Next week's decision is not something that depends on what we have achieved", Gjonaj told a small group of journalists, including from EUROPE. "The Commission has known, and knows, the results of Albania. I think everybody, all the countries, knows our achievement", she said, adding that the member states' decision had "nothing to do with Albania's reforms and results", "no one doubts what we have achieved, so (the decision) is political", she said.
While a European source confirmed on 21 June that some member states took issue not with one or other candidate country, but with the principle of the enlargement process, France and the Netherlands nevertheless consider that Tirana's progress is not enough.
In Gjonaj's opinion, Albania did more in terms of judicial reform before the opening of accession negotiations than any other country in this situation. She recognised that her country should work further on fighting corruption and organised crime, but she said it was making great efforts. While some member states are concerned at the high number of unjustified asylum applications from Albanians, this number is going down, according to Gjonaj – from 7,170 requests in the first quarter of 2016 to 4,000 in the first quarter of 2018, a decrease of 32%.
Gjonaj also warned against the accession negotiations not being opened. "Albanese (sic) will lose the faith about EU perspective", she said, despite the fact that in her opinion over 90% of the population is in favour of EU accession. She thought there was "a potential risk" of the increased influence on her country of other actors in the region, such as Russia or Turkey, if the EU member states' decision was negative. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)