TIRANA, Dec 14 /ATA/ – By Maela Marini/ Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Thursday that bilateral issues should not interfere with EU accession process of a country, as these obstacles are unreasonable, but also non-European in spirit.
During a press conference, Prime Minister Rama informed about the proceedings of yesterday’s EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels.
The Prime Minister announced that he has brought up the issue that for years the bilateral frictions between one country and another have been exported to the EU table.
“There is a very high awareness, especially among the most experienced and long-standing member states in the united European family, regarding the fact that bilateral issues exported by a member country to the table of the European Council create unreasonable impediments,” said Rama.
The Prime Minister emphasized that “bilateral issues must be resolved between the two countries.”
It makes no sense and there is no reason why in an accession process at the point when a country starts negotiations, which means a final stage of European statehood, benefiting daily from the transfer of knowledge from the EU, it is hindered or delayed on the grounds of a bilateral issue.
The Prime Minister underlined that such cases and stories have not been one or two, but more than one or two.
“It is no coincidence that all these cases come from the Balkan area. If there is no way to separate the bilateral issues once and for all from the negotiation process, we can easily foresee many other problems they can throw up along the way. Even more so when it comes to issues of a historical, completely political nature and not to issues that run counter to the values and principles of the EU”, said Rama.
“In all cases, it is an issue that, as far as we are concerned, as Albania, we do not see it related to the negotiation process, nor to the content of our relationship with Greece. “Greece is a strategic partner of Albania, a neighboring country with which we want to deepen cooperation and strengthen friendship by doing everything we can,” said Rama.
/r.e/sm/
