European Council will not recommend opening of negotiations with Albania

Brussels, 12 December 2014 (MIA) - European Council will ask Albania to better align its foreign and security policies with those of the European Union, with regard to Russia and the Ukrainian crisis. MIA correspondent from Brussels reports that this is part of the Council's draft conclusions that are expected to be adopted next Friday. The Council will not recommend opening of accession negotiations with Albania, due to a number of domestic issues this recent candidate country has.

Some of the positive comments in the conclusion include improvement in Albania's fight against organized crime, improvement in rule of law, major raids against illegal drugs producers and judicial reforms. But, the council notes that serious challenges remain in the case of Albania to open negotiations.

The Council is expected to ask Albania to make improvements in practically all areas under supervision, from protection of human rights, minority treatment, anti-discrimination, rule of law, further decisive action against organized criminal groups and ownership rights.

"The Council calls on Albania to immediately resolve issues in the area of freedom of expression and the media, especially to enhance the independence of the media regulators and the public broadcaster", is one of the European Council's conditions.

Regarding the state of its economy, the Council will commend some of reforms to improve competitiveness that Albania is introducing, but high unemployment levels and prevalence of black market economy are something that the country will need to work on.

Like in the case of Macedonia, the Council's draft conclusions note the boycott of Parliament by the main opposition party, and asks for a constructive and sustainable dialogue between the two main Albanian parties, on issues that relate to the European Union. The Council wants to see shared responsibility between the two main parties, and debate that will take part in the Parliament, not outside of it.