The Dutch parliament has agreed to support the start of EU membership talks with Albania and thus the organization of the first intergovernmental conference as soon as EU leaders decide, their embassy in Tirana has announced in a media release. The decision will be formally voted through the Dutch parliament on Thursday.
It follows the government’s positive report on Albania’s progress with EU accession reform and fulfilment of conditions set in March 2020 by the Council of the European Union.
The news was greeted by Prime Minister Edi Rama who said it confirmed his assessment that the Dutch had so far refused Albania on pure political grounds, due to the March 2021 general elections.
President Ilir Meta also praised the decision, and reminded Rama’s claims throughout recent years that talks with Albania had already started.
The start of talks requires the unanimous decision of all 27 EU member states. The Netherlands, whose government and parliament must both agree on EU enlargement issues, has so far blocked this phase of Albania’s progress on grounds of insufficient achievements.
The Dutch parliament has agreed with the government and European Commission assessment that Albania has met the necessary conditions for talks to start after the EU leaders summit on 24-25 June.
In its report earlier this month, the government considered 6 conditions fulfilled: electoral reform, implementation of justice reform, establishment of structures for the fight against corruption and organized crime, stepping up the fight against corruption and organized crime, reduction of numbers of asylum seekers, and amendment of the media law in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
It didn’t consider problematic issues like the unilateral changes to the electoral law, or the fact that the media law has not been amended but simply put on hold.
Other results expected from Albania, as laid out by the European leaders in March 2020, were included in the reports of both the European Commission and the Dutch government as “priorities” to be met in the future, after the start of EU talks in the first intergovernmental conference.
They included: opening criminal cases against judges and prosecutors who failed to pass vetting, completion of trials against those accused of vote rigging, completion of trials against senior officials and politicians accused of corruption, a decision on the legality of 2019 local elections, adoption of legislation protecting minorities, and the census law.
In March 2020, the Council of the European Leaders decided to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. In the case of Albania it put forward a number of conditions before the first intergovernmental conference. Despite a positive report by the European Commission in October 2020, member states, including the Netherlands, did not agree unanimously that Albania had met the conditions.
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