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Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (R) and his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha pose with EU candidacy documents during a press conference on April 28, 2009 outside government headquarters in Prague. (Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images)
Albanian Premier Sali Berisha filed an official application for his country to enter the European Union as a full-right member on Tuesday. The negotiations process is expected to take several years.
"We have made the important decision to submit the formal request to be a candidate country to the EU on April 28," Mr. Berisha declared during a TV-broadcasted meeting last Sunday, AFP reported.
The premier of one of the poorest countries on the old continent added that the decision for candidature was made after consultations with major European states and it received support as a step for democracy.
"Albania will be a member of the European Union and France fully supports this idea," French president Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Saturday, according to Euobserver.com.
However, the real procedure for negotiating Albania’s entry into the EU has not yet begun. After receiving the initial bid, the European Commission has to make an assessment of the application. This takes at least one year. If the estimation is positive, current member states would have to agree unanimously to grant the applicant-state full-member status in the EU.
Despite France’s first positive reaction to Tirana’s bid, there is some apprehension about considering enlargement of the 27-member community.
German chancellor Angela Merkel appealed for a pause before a new wave of enlargement. Sarkozy meanwhile warned that after Croatia, which is next to enter, there cannot be further member accession without final ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, which aims to optimize working processes and further drive democracy in the EU. So far, the Treaty has been approved by 25 member-states.
Apart from the current economic crisis, Albania seems to still have many things to improve in order to qualify for acceptance in the European family. In a report of the European Commission from November 2008, it stated that corruption and organized crime remained a “major challenge” for the Albanian government, in addition to money laundering and drug trafficking.
Former communist Albania is the latest Balkan country to apply for EU-membership. It was preceded by Montenegro which filed for entry last December, and Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. Serbia's candidate-status still depends on its cooperation with the UN War Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
