Green light for Albania's EU accession negotiations result of collective work

The European Union's (EU) positive recommendation for Albania to open EU accession negotiations is a result of a collective and efficient work made from all institutions, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Wednesday.

One day after the European Commission's (EC) decision to open Albania's negotiations, Mogherini paid an official visit in Tirana.

"I am proud to present today in Tirana the EC decision to provide for the first time in Albania's history, a positive recommendation for the opening of the EU accession negotiations," said Mogherini at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Edi Rama.

According to Mogherini, this was a result of country's institutions, president, government, municipalities, and all Albanian citizens.

She emphasized that Albania had met the conditions set in an EC recommendations report adopted a year and a half ago, and is ready to deepen reforms.

In his speech to media, Rama said: "The achievement of the long-awaited result of Albania getting the European Commission's recommendation for opening EU accession negotiations is directly connected with Mogherini's hard work for building the bridge between the EU and the Western Balkans," stated Rama.

Earlier in the day, the European Commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, Johannes Hahn, sent a video message to Albania saying: "We have acknowledged the impressive progress your country has made on the reform agenda, meeting the conditions necessary for entering into negotiations with the EU."

Further on, he emphasized that the EU's new Western Balkans strategy clearly shows that the prospect of membership for Albania is real if the country continues to deliver on the great reforms.

Meanwhile, opposition Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha declared that the advance of the integration process is very important for the opposition battles against the violation of human rights in the country.

In November 2016, Albania received the EU recommendation to open EU accession negotiations conditioned primarily upon the implementation of a judicial reform package passed earlier the same year.