Albania ‘not ready’ for closer ties with EU

Date: 04/11/1999

By Simon Taylor

THE European Commission will tell Albania next week that it is not yet ready to start negotiations on a major political agreement with the EU.

Senior officials insist that Tirana needs to introduce substantial economic and political reforms before the Commission can recommend starting talks on a stability and association agreement, the closest relationship a country can have with the Union short of becoming a candidate for membership.

The EU decided to offer western Balkan countries such accords at the height of the Kosovo crisis as a way of rewarding them for their support during the NATO campaign and offsetting the economic impact of a massive influx of refugees. However, negotiations with individual countries cannot begin until the Commission has completed a feasibility study, assessing their readiness for closer ties.

The institution has already given the green light for talks with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to begin early next year, but officials say there is no point launching negotiations with Albania until it improves its performance in reforming the economy, enforcing the rule of law and cracking down on crime.

"The Commission will probably say that it is not in a position to prepare a draft negotiating mandate because it has identified a number of deficit areas which it sees as prerequisites," said one.

The full Commission is expected to endorse this conclusion, reached by the institution's foreign relations department, at its meeting next Wednesday (10 November).

But officials stress that the Commission is not shutting the door on Albania's hopes of closer relations with the Union. "The message is not that we are saying no, but that this is a first step in EU-Albanian relations," said one. "We will point out difficulties and try to be constructive."

The Commission will call on Tirana to present an action plan setting out what it intends to deliver in terms of internal reforms. Priorities include economic stability and privatisation, and improving public order by strengthening the police force, and confiscating the thousands of small arms circulating in the country. Albania has been struggling to control widespread lawlessness since its near economic collapse in 1997.

One major obstacle to the country's hopes of closer ties with the Union is its reliance on customs duties as a major source of state revenue. This means that Tirana would face major difficulties in establishing a free-trade area with the EU.

Despite recent political turmoil in the Albanian capital following the resignation of Prime Minister Pandeli Majko, officials in Tirana have indicated that the Commission's decision will not have damaging repercussions on the domestic scene, provided there is still a constructive dialogue between the two sides.

The European Commission is to tell Albania that it is not yet ready to start negotiations on a major political agreement with the EU.