While Albania celebrates the European Commission recommendation for the opening of accession negotiations with Albania, Gunther Krichbaum, Chairman of the EU Affairs Commission in the Bundestag, declared today that “the European Commission’s recommendation is not enough.”
During an interview for the German Deutsche Welle, Krichbaum stated:
Albania is a candidate, but we will carefully review the Progress Report. Because the European Commission’s recommendation for the opening of accession negotiations is not enough. The European Commission, and me, personally, would like to consult other reports, such as the Transparency International report, the World Bank report, and other international reports, as well, before reaching a decision.
Gunther Krichbaum stressed how important the fulfillment of key criteria put forth in 2016 by the German parliament (yet, not mentioned in the EC Progress Report) is for Chancellor Merkel’s parliamentary group CDU/CSU.
Our parliamentary group, CDU/CSU, delineated several clear criteria the November before this one, and would now like to know to what extent they have been fulfilled. We will examine how much the situation has changed in April 2018 compared to November 2016 and, only if we note that there have been fundamental improvements, will we approve opening the accession negotiations.
Krichbaum declared that Albania still has work to do, and that the fight against corruption, organized crime and the implementation of economic reforms should be firmer.
Reforms must be implemented, because they are not conceived to do us, in Berlin, a favor, but to improve the country. So, in this direction, I am expecting a tougher war against corruption and organized crime, while economic reform is still needed. There is, therefore, still a lot of work to be done.
Previously, Krichbaum played prominent role during the debate following the release of the 2016 Progress Report.
