Issued on:
06/02/2020 - 12:28
Albania will not
"stay at Europe's door and cry" for it to open, Prime Minister Edi
Rama told AFP, stressing that the Balkan state must focus on its own future
while Brussels sorts out thorny questions over its admissions process.
The country of 2.8
million hoped to get the greenlight to start EU entry talks in October, but
France, Denmark and the Netherlands vetoed the move.
Neighbouring North
Macedonia's bid was also put on hold due to resistance chiefly from Paris.
The French-led
"non" outraged many in the Balkans and in the EU, where most member
states had wanted to reward the two countries for pushing through significant
reforms.
Brussels is now
redoubling efforts to get all member states on board to approve the start of
Albania and North Macedonia's talks at a summit in May.
Prime Minister Rama,
however, is not holding his breath.
"I do not
expect anything," Rama, a painter and former basketball player, told AFP
in an interview conducted in French.
"We should do
the things that should be done" regardless of decisions in Brussels, he
said, adding that the country cannot "continue to live with this anxiety
of waiting for something that is out of our hands".
"We will not
stay at Europe's door and cry," said the 55-year-old, who was wearing a
long black coat and sneakers.
"We are not on
this path because the French or the Germans are asking us, but because it is
the only reasonable path for the future of our children and for the future of
this country," he said.
Rama added that the
EU's own reforms are far from Tirana's control, though "it is important
for us too that Europe changes".
Europe "is
suffering, it doesn’t work as it should, that's clear."
- Earthquake wake-up
call -
In order to placate
French demands to rework the EU's entry requirements before opening the gate to
new members, the European Commission proposed a tougher and more political
admissions process this week.
For Tirana, the main
areas under scrutiny are its efforts to root out corruption and organised
crime, as well as to strengthen rule of law.
The country has
carried out intensive justice reforms since 2016, with hundreds of judges and
prosecutors vetted for any links to crime or other unethical conduct.
While Brussels has
applauded this process, a progress report in 2019 still noted that
"corruption is prevalent in many areas" in the Balkan state. The next
report is due at the end of the month.
"Albania did
more than any other country for the opening of negotiations," insisted
Rama, who has been in power since 2013.
But the country will
"continue to do its homework (because) we are not doing it for them, we
are doing it for ourselves", he added.
On that front, the
government recently adopted a decree to bolster the fight against organised
crime.
It has also asked
parliament to crack down on corruption and crime in the construction sector --
an issue that came to light after a deadly earthquake in November damaged more
than 80,000 buildings, killing 51 people.
Authorities say they
will put an end to decades of unchecked urbanisation, especially in coastal
tourist areas where many developers have built without proper permits or
respect for safety codes.
The cost of the
earthquake reconstruction effort is estimated at a billion euros (dollars),
with which Albania is set to receive help at a donor conference later this
month in Brussels.
"We greatly
appreciate the will to organise this conference and we hope it will be
successful," Rama said.
Asked if the
earthquake was a wake-up call for Albania generally, Rama said he was a
"realist".
"This is a huge
opportunity for the country to demonstrate it is doing things
differently," he said.
"But to say
that Albanians will become Swedes, I don't think it will happen." France 24
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