The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, warned on Tuesday evening, 11 June, that the cancellation of the municipal elections in Albania, scheduled for 30 June, could damage Albania's European prospects.
The political crisis continues there, as President Ilir Meta announced the cancellation of the municipal elections due to demonstrations - sometimes violent - by the opposition demanding the departure of Prime Minister Edi Rama, while he is pleading for the elections to be held. The Constitutional Court, the only body that can take the decision to annul the election, is currently being dissolved due to the fundamental reform of the judicial system.
"The population should not be deprived of exercising its democratic right. (...) I do not want to interfere, but elections should take place; if not, it could delay Albania's European prospects", explained the President of the Commission at a press briefing with the Albanian Prime Minister in Brussels, adding that a cancellation would undermine this perspective.
Mr Juncker called for political unity. "All parties must engage constructively in the institutions", he added.
"Elections should be held on time", Rama said.
The day before, at a press conference organised by the S&D group at the European Parliament, Interior Minister Sander Llehaj said the elections were an opportunity to show the country's "maturity".
As he had done the previous week for North Macedonia (see EUROPE 12268/12), Mr Juncker supported the opening of accession negotiations. According to him, "the country has made considerable progress", although the fight against organised crime and corruption is of permanent importance. "If you tell a country to do this and that and it does it, you have no right to say 'no' to that country's European aspiration", he added.
And just as was the case for Skopje, the President of the Commission acknowledged that some Member States "still had some concerns in some areas (see other news, Editor's note)". While the German Bundestag has not yet given its opinion on the opening of accession negotiations, Mr Juncker said that we should not focus on June, that this could happen later, but that it must be "clear" that the time has come for Albania to open its negotiations.
The Albanian Prime Minister has of course called for this opening. The day before, at a conference of the S&D group at the European Parliament, Justice Minister Etilda Gjonaj had asked Member States to be "fair". "EU Member States must be fair with Albania", she argued, recalling her country's progress. And if, according to her, "the political situation can be taken into account in the decision", ultimately "European countries must take into account the results of the most ambitious priorities: fighting against organised crime and corruption, reform of the judicial system". If negotiations are open, "the government will be in a better position to carry out reforms and the EU will have more leverage", she said.
As if to reassure Member States, Ms Gjonaj recalled that opening negotiations was no guarantee that her country would one day become a Member State.
The Minister also recalled the consequences of a negative decision. In her view, this would have a negative influence in her country and would affect the stability of the country and region of the Western Balkans, at a time when it is facing the influence of third parties.
Moreover, while the Netherlands is asking the Commission to work on a suspension of the visa-free regime granted to Albania (see EUROPE 12267/10), Mr Lleshaj considered that his country had not violated any criteria that would justify reconsidering visa liberalisation. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)