The Albanian Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka stated during her interview on Ilva Now that our integration process to the European Union has seen clear progress and that the commitment by all sides has been maximal so that accession talks can take off by June.
“We are very happy and based on my meeting with the Portuguese Minister and other activities, I can say that I have been met with their utmost seriousness, promising to make a decision before their presidency is over (at the end of June),” declared minister Xhaçka for journalist Ilva Tare on Euronews Albania.
“If we are able to overcome the standstill between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which has been a matter involving numerous partners that are doing everything they can to overcome it…and I believe that we can overcome this contraction even by June,” added Xhaçka.
According to Minister Xhaçka, the order of things starts with the European Council – that is expected to take a decision on the accession of negotiations for Albania and North Macedonia – and continues with the approval of a negotiating framework for both countries, and the final step is the determination of a date for the First Intergovernmental Conference between our countries and the EU.
When asked whether or not North Macedonia and Albania will be decoupled during the process of negotiation talks, Albania’s MFA responded by saying that the assessment will include our neighbours, because it is directly linked to the common interests of the region, but also in order to create a race between countries of the Western Balkans.
Several times during the interview, journalist Ilva Tare made sure to bring up the issue of the continuous scepticism shown by some member states of the EU, regarding Albania’s actual progress in the field of integration – a question, which minister Xhaçka answered by saying that it is mostly linked with the internal dynamics of countries and that the EU bodies were more prepared to give a clear conclusion through their reports.
“There are and always will be sceptical states. Member states have their own procedures of approval regarding every step of a country’s membership process. Sometimes, there are even talks of internal political calculations, but it is nothing that can’t be overcome with more collaboration,” declared MFA Xhaçka, during her interview on Ilva Now, Euronews Albania.
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