TIRANA, July 11/ATA/ Minister of State and Chief Negotiator of Albania with the European Union Majlinda Dhuka said today that, “The role of municipalities is not peripheral on the path towards the EU, but central”.
At the meeting with mayors on the performance of local government in function of the “Albania 2030” vision in the EU, where Prime Minister Edi Rama was present, Dhuka said that, “Albania has taken a great step forward in three years since the opening of EU accession negotiations. At present, we have opened them for 24 areas and we hope that within the current year we shall open negotiations for 33 areas”.
Chief Negotiator Dhuka stated that, “70% of the EU laws we are finalizing have an impact at the local level. 23 out of 33 of these areas, more than 2/3, are directly related to you and your role both in the municipality and in the territory from the economy, to growth, agriculture, food security, transport, environment, to social services in the territory, i.e. areas that are directly related to the work you do”.
“More specifically, we will work together on at least 3 directions for these areas. First, infrastructure and businesses. Second, we will work on exports. Third, we will work with the funds as an opportunity for our projects that the EU gives us”, underlined Dhuka. /k.s//r.e//a.f/p.s./
