Albania’s co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Joe O’Reilly and Petter Eide have welcomed the decision of the European Council to open membership talks.
In a statement published yesterday, the rapporteurs said that it was a “verly welcome piece of good news” in the context of the tragic developments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They added that it was a recognition of the countries efforts to implement the reforms and policies needed to further their European integration.
O’Reilly and Eide did however take the opportunity to call on all political factions in Albania to use the decision to overcome their political differences and to “resolve the systemic political crisis in the country.”
They also called for “genuinely independent” judicial reforms and asked authorities to “step up the fight against organised crime and widespread corruption in the country.”
“The political crisis has been the Achilles heel of the reform process and democratic consolidation of Albania. All political factions owe it to the Albanian people to resolve the crisis and overcome the endemic political polarisation in the country,” stressed Mr O’Reilly and Mr Eide.
