The Coordinator for Foreign Policy and Enlargement in the European Parliament, Michael Gahler, has criticized yesterday the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama relating to the latter's reaction to the European Union.
Referring to Turkey, Gahler stresses that Rama must be careful with non-European bargains and countries unfriendly to Europe.
To those FB-friends interested in developments in Albania:
When it comes to the obligations that Albania has to fulfill prior to the start of accession negotiations, the friends of a European Albania, should not be frustrated too much and for too long by those who have to deliver - that is the government!
The relevant Council conclusion are known, the recommendations of the Venice Commission are known, the text and spirit of the 5 June 2020 agreement on electoral reform are known!
The latter has been violated while there is little or no progress with many conditions: the media law has not been adapted; senior officials involved in vote-rigging have been eluding prosecution; government officials and former judicial magistrates involved in corruption also.
Money laundering remains an unaddressed concern as also recent scandals show. The constitutionality of the 2019 local elections has not been cleared. The formation of the new judiciary bodies is advancing rather slowly.
The government in Tirana should not provoke the friends of European Albania neither by denying these conditions nor by badmouthing the EU's aid nor by doing deals with third party states which violate EU law.
These are the issues I have raised and will continue to raise for the sake of getting the country credibly on an operational accession track.