On a visit to Albania, Füle used unusually tough language, warning Tirana that a prolonged political stalemate would harm the country's EU accession prospects.
Albania's opposition Socialist Party, which controls nearly half the seats in parliament, has boycotted the assembly for the last six months, holding up the passage of laws including many that are needed to align the country with EU legislation.
Albania applied for EU membership in April 2009. In July, EU foreign ministers stated that they would return to the country's application once Albanian national elections had been completed.
But ever since the June poll, the ruling Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Socialist party of opposition leader Edi Rama have kept accusing each other of fraud (EurActiv 30/06/09).
''A fully functioning parliament is essential to a fully functioning democracy. If the current political stalemate were to persist, it could well prevent Albania from reaching the political standards expected from a country that has applied for EU membership," Füle said.
The commissioner declared that parliamentary boycotts had no place in democratic politics as practised in the EU.
Slovenia fiasco
From Tirana, Füle went to Brdo pri Kranju, a resort in Slovenia, to attend – and make an early departure – from a regional conference on the European future of the Western Balkans.
The conference was boycotted by Serbian President Boris Tadić due to the presence of Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Thaçi. Belgrade had warned it would only attend international conferences where Kosovo is represented under its UNMIK heading, as the country was a UN protectorate before unilaterally declaring independence in February 2008 (EurActiv 08/03/10).
Füle was the only EU representative to attend the regional forum. Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council, had announced that he would attend only if all countries were represented, but this important political message failed to impress Belgrade.
The Brdo gathering was called to a halt when Füle left the meeting, 45 minutes ahead of the conference's scheduled closure.
"The countries must understand that cooperation is useful," the local press quoted Füle as saying.
Strictly speaking, Kosovo's recognition by Belgrade is not a prerequisite for Serbia's EU accession. But EU diplomats insist that regional cooperation is a must, and boycotting the regional cooperation meeting runs counter to this basic prerequisite.
Another regional meeting for enhancing cooperation in the Western Balkans is due in May or June.
The alternative to the sides talking to each other and engaging in regional cooperation would be a "frozen conflict," Hido Biščević, secretary-general of the Regional Cooperation Council for South Eastern Europe, told EurActiv recently (EurActiv 15/03/10).
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