TIRANA, Oct. 6/ATA/- EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi stated today that Albania has made progress in its objective to open membership talks with the European Union and is very close to the first Intergovernmental Conference with the union.
“The EU has a strategic interest in getting Western Balkans countries closer to becoming European Union member states,” Varhelyi said during the presentation of the 2020 Enlargement Package and Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans.
“We must give the green light as soon as possible for the first Intergovernmental Conferences with Albania and North Macedonia,” he stressed.
“Albania has continued to move forward with the required reforms and the Albanian authorities are determined to implement them,” Varhelyi added.
“Albania has made great progress and is very close to meeting all the conditions for holding the first Intergovernmental Conference. Extraordinary progress has been made in the electoral reform, the adoption of the June 5 agreement and the implementation of the OSCE-ODIHR recommendations,” he added.
In addition, Parliament adopted on July 30th some constitutional amendments regarding the electoral system. These changes, unrelated to the implementation of the OSCE / ODIHR recommendations, required further changes to the Electoral Code, discussed between the parties in the Political Council, but no compromise has been reached until their adoption by the Parliament on October 5. Despite the positive result of the agreement reached on June 5, 2020, the political dialogue in the country needs to be improved, especially on the electoral reform and its implementation. //a.i/
