TIRANA, January 16/ATA/ Prime Minister Edi Rama appreciated today that guaranteeing of food safety is one of the main challenges in the European integration process.
PM Rama, also chairman of the Socialist Party, held a meeting today with the SP Parliamentary group where he summarized the work and challenges that were encountered in the previous Parliamentary session, but also set some objectives for the future.
Rama emphasized that Albania has now entered the most intensive phase of negotiations with the European Union. “In a relatively short period of time, of only 2 years, Albania must fulfill all the conditions to close the membership negotiations,” he added.
Rama highlighted the burden of obligations and conditions that the country must fulfill in order to successfully close the negotiation process and cope with inclusion in a completely new reality, such as the 450-million people market.
“An integrated Albania will be a drop in the ocean while challenge for the entire production sector and also for the institutions will be multiple. Through the negotiation team, we are negotiating the interim periods after the moment of membership to enable the country to be ready to meet all the criteria”, Rama added.
The prime minister emphasized that the main battle is for the food production sector, for all producers in the countryside and for all enterprises that process food products.
Under present-day conditions, Rama said that Albania cannot be integrated in the EU due to the insufficient level of food safety, according to EU criteria.
“Therefore, we are trying to gain an interim phase of 5 years after membership, but preparations must begin now”, Rama said.
The prime minister also mentioned the situation of the country in terms of food safety in 2013 and the achievements that have been made in this field.
“When we took office, Albania’s roads functioned as both vibrant food markets and makeshift slaughterhouses.
All the country’s highways were bordered by informal food stalls and markets. Much progress has been made, but we are still far from meeting the EU’s food safety criteria,” Rama added.
Rama warned that at the moment of accession and when the interim period ends, no food produced in Albania can be sold abroad.
According to him, the same criteria will also apply in Albania and food can be blocked if it does not meet the safety criteria.
“Then, in the most pessimistic scenario, it means that everything that is eaten will be imported. For this reason, it takes a lot of work but also a lot of determination on our part as decision-makers to not forgive anything and anyone in the name of the need to ‘keep working’. Everyone must be placed in very strong positions of responsibility and work because in the best case scenario, there are only 10 years ahead and there is a lot of work to be done,” Rama said. /p.s./
