Paneuropean Movement Albania Welcomes the Opening of EU Accession Talks
The Paneuropean Movement Albania warmly and gratefully welcomes the decision by the European Council to open EU accession talks with our country and with our neighbouring country North Macedonia. Genc Pollo, President of the Paneuropean Movement Albania
Albania’s historical, political, and cultural affiliation with Europe was never questioned by its people. However, it suffered under foreign occupation and totalitarian regimes. With the end of Communism, Albania was able to turn back to Europe, primarily through the EU integration process. This allowed the country to realise what Otto von Habsburg so beautifully articulated as the “right of the Balkan peoples to Europe”.
A united Europe, as a space of law guaranteeing human freedoms and rights, democracy, and the social market economy, is highly desirable not only for Albania and the other Western Balkan states. If decades ago securing internal peace was a European challenge, today the protection of the “European way of life”, in view of global events, is more necessary than ever.
In Albania, however, ensuring and consolidating the rule of law remains at the top of the agenda. Or, as it is so aptly put in EU jargon, fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria. This is a Herculean task for Albanian society and, above all, for its politicians. I very much hope, however, that in this new phase of EU rapprochement, the transformative power of the EU will be felt more effectively and unequivocally.
It will not be a short and easy path. But it will be a necessary and, ultimately, a beautiful one.
