The Ministers of the Interior of 28 member states of the EU have drafted a document containing the primary conditions Western Balkans countries must fulfill with regards to security and illegal immigration. According to Brussels, these include fighting organized crime, terrorism, and firearms and explosives trafficking.
According to Deutsche Welle, the document drafted Thursday will be published at the Sofia Summit on May 17, 2018.
This document is the third one drafted by the EU concerning order and illegal immigration in the Western Balkans in only a few months, with special attention paid to Albania. As a reminder, the latest cases are:
– The European Commission’s Western Balkans strategy – with special attention paid to Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosova – that stresses the need for these countries’ government to take very seriously the establishment of a rule of law, fighting organized crime and corruption, solving bipartisan disputes and undertaking several other democratic reforms.
– The agreement for the conservation of EU borders in the face of Albanian illegal emigration and organized crime, signed in February by EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Minister of Interior Affairs, Fatmir Xhafaj.
– French Minister of Interior Gérard Collomb’s visit to Tirana in December, during which he made it clear to the government that, if the influx of Albanian illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in France does not decrease, France will not allow the opening of EU accession negotiations and may advocate a return of the Schengen visa regime.
Fighting organized crime and illegal immigration remains, for two years now, the main condition for opening Albania’s EU membership negotiations.
