A group of Albanian diaspora in the Netherlands has set up a petition to ask the Dutch Parliament not to block the opening of accession negotiations with the European Union.
In the wake of the publication of the European Commission’s Progress Report, the Netherlands have been one of the more skeptical EU countries as regards the possible opening of the negotiations. A Dutch parliamentary fact-finding mission elicited the public contempt of Prime Minister Edi Rama, while a mission of Minister of Justice Etilda Gjonaj and Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj has failed to produce any concrete results.
Toward the end of this month, the Council of Europe, comprising the leaders of EU countries are expected to decide on the possible opening of negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. In the last days several media outlets have reported that the Council will accept the recommendation of the European Commission to open negotiations but not set a specific date, thus indefinitely delaying their start.
