European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday that Albania could be granted EU candidate status later this autumn.
“In principle, Albania could achieve the status of EU candidate this year,” Barroso told a joint conference in Brussels with Albania’s new Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama.

“Albania’s future is in the European Union and I am confident in Albania’s potential and commitment to fulfill the criteria and make progress, step by step, on its European path,” he added.

Albania obtained a conditional recommendation from the European Commission for its EU candidate status bid last October. It required the approval of two draft laws and parliamentary rules of procedure.

However, approval for the three bills, which required a qualified majority in parliament, was delayed until May, hostage to a row between the opposition and the ruling majority dating back to the 2011 local elections.

Barroso underlined that Albania had delivered “solid reforms over the past twelve months and the June parliamentary elections were free and fair”.

He called on Albania’s new leader to turn the EU integration process into national effort that did not exclude the contribution of the opposition.

“It is very important for the credibility of the process that it appears with a broad consensus as a national project, because it is not just a traditional, diplomatic negotiation process,” Barroso said.

“There is indeed a high consensus on European Union integration among Albania’s citizens and they rightly expect their politicians, their leaders, to work jointly towards achieving that goal,” he concluded. balkaninsight