TIRANA, June 6 /ATA/ – Poland will support opening the long-awaited EU accession talks with Albania immediately.
Parliament Speaker Gramoz Ruçi received Thursday a visiting Polish Sejm (Parliament) delegation led by Ryszard Terlecki, Deputy Marshal of the Polish Sejm, also head of the Polish-Balkan Parliamentary Group.
Speaker Ruçi praised the excellent political cooperation between the two countries, materialized through exchanges of high-level visits of Prime Minister Beata Szydlo to Tirana in December 2016 and Prime Minister Edi Rama’s visit to Warsaw in December 2017.
He expressed gratitude for the Poland’s strong support for Albania’s European integration process and the European Commission’s recommendation to open the EU membership talks with Albania, lobbying with the Visegrad Group, support for the OSCE’s Albanian Presidency in 2020.
Ruçi also demanded support for our country’s candidacy for a non-permanent member seat in the United Nations Security Council in 2022-2023, as well as support for Kosovo’s membership in international mechanisms and organizations.
“Albania and Poland share an early friendship and traditional cooperation and the bilateral ties have increasingly strengthened. The two countries can further boost cooperation in economy, defence and security, tourism, education, infrastructure, transport, information technology, agriculture, natural resources, renewable energy,” Ruçi said.
The Deputy Marshal of the Polish Sejm, Ryszard Terlecki, underlined that the Polish parliamentary delegation was visiting Albania to openly express Poland’s support for Albania’s European integration process and urge the European Council to open the EU membership talks immediately.
“Sejm and the Government of Poland enjoy the support of every political grouping in the country regarding the EU enlargement policies with the Western Balkans. Europe’s enlargement needs to move forward in parallel, even prior to the EU strengthening. The 27 Polish MEPs will ask for the opening of negotiations with Albania on the first meeting of the European Parliament, the Deputy Marshal of the Polish Sejm Ryszard Terlecki stated.
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