Fule: Fight corruption and organized crime
11/11/2013

In his third visit in Tirana within this year, the European Stefan Fule attended a 60-minute-long meeting with Prime Minister Edi Rama and after he asked the government and opposition to follow a comprehensive process and not lose any time in fulfilling the five priorities established by the European Commission.

“Naturally that besides the positive recommendation for giving the candidate status, the European Commission has underlined five key priorities that need to be delivered. This is not only regarding the determination that Albania should show in treating these challenges, but also for the fight against corruption and organized crime.

It is exactly for the for the constant efforts that Albania needs to take to implement these decisions and show results. Among other things, I have underlined the need for a constructive political dialogue between the government and the opposition too, because I think it is really essential to revive the political life of our country.

We discussed about the goal of my visit to Albania, which is this high-level dialogue that we will launch this Tuesday about the key priorities. This dialogue will help Albania stay focused for its actions especially in these important areas”, Fule declared.

Rama spoke about the need to accelerate the integration processes, expressing the government’s readiness. He underlined that this process should not be an exclusivity of the government or of the Parliamentary majority, but also a comprehensive process that goes beyond the political parties.

“I want to underline that we are 100% on the same length regarding the five priorities set by the Commission, in function of the efforts to open the negotiations. We are 100% determined to push forward a fight against organized crime and corruption without compromise, a fight that has only just started.

We are 100% available to build a process in which our promise is to not deny to the opposition anything that has been denied to us when we were in opposition. We will behave with the opposition as we would have wanted the government to behave with us, so that it can be a tangible reality”, Rama declared.

Earlier, Commissioner Fule met with the Albanian President, Bujar Nishani, who said that he was trustful that there would be a positive decision in December. He added that the Albanian institutions and society will continue the efforts for continuing the challenges identified by the progress report. Fule continued his meetings with the Parliament Speaker, Ilir Meta; Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati and the opposition leader, Lulzim Basha.

The Commissioner was received at the Albanian Parliament by Speaker Ilir Meta this afternoon.

Meta valued the contribution of the European Commission in the positive progress-report for Albania, and the recommendation for the candidate status. Meta declared that the Parliament is creating a new action plan to confront all points of the report.

Commissioner Fule appealed the political class to focus on the key priorities through cooperation and constructive dialogue.