Tag: Albania

EU ministers will not grant Albania the EU candidate status at next week's meeting, diplomatic sources told EurActiv. However, they will likely give the green light to opening accession negotiations with Serbia, if a number of conditions are respected, such as improving relations with  Kosovo.

In its yearly status report on the progress EU hopefuls are making towards membership, the European Commission has good news for Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. The report - published today (10 October) - also calls for a resumption of negotiations with EU candidate Turkey that are stalled because of the long-running territorial dispute with Cyprus.

Macedonia may face early elections after an ethnic Albanian party that is part of the governing coalition threatened to quit in protest of a draft law on the rights of Macedonian soldiers and their families that was put before parliament.

Ethnic Albanians rallied in several Macedonian towns on Friday (11 May) to protest against a police operation that saw suspects arrested in the deaths of five people. The regional press saw the protests as a sign of rising radical Islam in the country.

An Albanian politician who faces 40 years in prison on drug convictions in Italy was arrested on 9 April in his country, but in the meantime has been able to get house arrest without police supervision. Commission sources expressed regret for this lax treatment, but said the EU executive could not comment court decisions. 

The European Commission "deeply regretted" a spate of attacks between Macedonia's Slav and Albanian communities and called on politicians and civil society to handle the "emotional aftermath" with care, a spokesperson for enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle said yesterday (12 March).  

The European Union should adopt a "regatta" approach to membership hopefuls in the Western Balkans as a competitive race for accession should spur reforms in the countries concerned, argues Bojan Sarkic, a former senior Montenegrin diplomat.

EU environment ministers yesterday (21 June) failed to endorse concrete measures proposed by the European Commission to protect biodiversity, with some expressing reservations even on the proposed targets of the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy until more clarity is found on actions and funding.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today (20 May) that Leszek Balcerowicz, architect of his country's 'shock therapy' reforms in the early 1990s, could be a good candidate to become the new head of the International Monetary Fund.

The European Commission has strongly warned against plans by Copenhagen to introduce controls at its ports and airports, the EU executive announced.

A new draft regulation prepared by Digital Commissioner Neelie Kroes envisages lower caps on cross-border telephone charges and is expected to put mobile roaming prices on an equal footing with national tariffs by 2016.

The EU-27 and 19 other European countries are preparing to launch intergovernmental talks that are expected to result in a legally-binding agreement on sustainable use of forests in 2013. In parallel, the European Commission is kicking off talks to revamp its forest policy.

There is no end in sight to Albania's political crisis and January's fatal demonstrations have shaken what little faith remained among EU leaders and institutions, write Bledar Feta and Dr. Ioannis Armakolas from the 'Athens Working Group: Transforming the Balkans' at the Hellenic Centre for European Studies (EKEM).

A wave of protests apparently inspired by Tunisia's 'Jasmine' revolution, which has already spread to Algeria and Yemen, has now hit EU hopeful and NATO member Albania. The country's prime minister, Sali Berisha, on 22 January slammed the opposition for what he called a "Tunisia-style" revolt.

The European Union and American health authorities have agreed to work more closely on a common approach for electronic health records and education programmes for medical professionals.

By making a success of further enlargement, as well as improving its public perception, the EU will be able to better address the many other challenges which it faces, argues the European Commission's enlargement strategy for 2010-2011, unveiled yesterday (9 November).

The European Union is likely to grant Montenegro candidate status in November but defer opening entry talks with the ex-Yugoslav state as a result of corruption and slow democratic reform, an EU official revealed yesterday (27 October).

The European Parliament yesterday (7 October) backed visa-free travel to Europe's Schengen area for Albanian and Bosnian citizens, setting the EU assembly on a collision course with France, which opposes the proposal following its controversial crackdown on illegal Roma camps.

Turkey would like to do business with the southern part of Cyprus - EU member the Republic of Cyprus - and both sides of the divided island should take steps towards the other, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, president of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The European Commission today (27 May) adopted proposals to enable citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina to travel with biometric passports to the Schengen countries without requiring visas. If the countries satisfy a number of outstanding requirements, visas could be lifted by autumn.

The leaders of the two largest political groups in the European Parliament will receive Albania's prime minister and main opposition leader for dinner in Strasbourg tonight (20 May), in an attempt to prevent the country from slipping into political chaos.

The Albanian government is doing everything it can to find a way out of the country's unprecedented political crisis, which sees the opposition boycotting parliament and prevents Tirana from advancing towards EU membership, Albania's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ilir Meta told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Flexibility and responsibility for the common EU future of the Western Balkans should come first and Serbia and Kosovo should sit at the same table in a forthcoming regional forum, leaving country names and flags behind, Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Albania formally applied for EU membership in April 2009, but if its accession bid is to move forward it must tackle a number of issues: particularly political stability, economic reform and corruption.