Closer to Europe

The Council of Foreign Ministers of the 25, meeting in Luxembourg on 12 June, signed an Accord of Stabilization and Association (ASA) with the Albanian government. This is the first concrete step of Tirana’s rapprochement with the European Union. The document was signed by the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, and the Albanian premier Sali Berisha. The process of convergence between the EU and Albania entails an intensification of political and diplomatic relations, an adaptation of Albanian legislation to the aquis communautaire and a reinforcement of cooperation at the economic and commercial level. TOWARDS INTEGRATION. “The Catholic Church in Albania is very favourable to closer rapprochement between Eastern Europe and the Europe of the 25, since at times, when we speak of Europe, we think it consists just of the 25 countries that form part of the EU”, commented Bishop Rrok Mirdita of Tirana, the new President of the Albanian Bishops’ Conference, commenting on the meeting in Luxembourg between representatives of the Albanian government and the authorities of the European Union on Monday 12 June, for the signing of the Accord of Stabilization and Association between Albania and the EU. According to Msgr. Mirdita, “Albania has always been on the fringes of Europe. But now a glimmer of development is opened for this country, the poorest of the continent”. “Both the political parties and the population – added the President of the Albanian episcopate – are very favourable to the integration of Albania in the EU. Unfortunately Albania is still too marginalized and isolated and, in spite of the first openings, still has a need to be helped to develop itself”. GREAT CREDIBILITY. The President of the Albanian bishops also reflected on the religious situation in the “Country of the Eagles”, as Albania is commonly called: “The Catholic Church enjoys a lot of esteem in the country, for two reasons: the first, because in the time of Communism it made no compromise with the regime and was therefore the church that suffered most, far more than the other Christian denominations. The second reason is that in the time of the emergency, immediately after the fall of Communism and the uprisings in 1997 during the war in Kosovo, with thousands of refugees, the Catholic Church helped everyone, without any distinctions between ethnic groups or religious denomination. This gave great credibility to the Catholic community in the eyes of the population. In any case – concluded Msgr. Mirdita – relations with the other religions are very good. This is also due to the fact that the Muslim community in Albania, although it forms 65% of the population, is open to dialogue. This is an ‘advantage’ in inter-religious co-existence that was also commended by Pope John Paul II, who spoke of it in a speech during his apostolic journey to Albania in 1993”. Bishop Angelo Massafra of Scutari and former President of the Albanian bishops, pointed out that on Monday 12 June, at midday, coinciding with the signing of the accord, the flags both of Albania and the European Union were raised together on all public buildings in the country: “it’s a sign of celebration and progress that we in the Church also applaud and support for the good of the nation and the Albanian people”, declared Msgr. Massafra. FACT FILE: ALBANIA-EU. With the signing of the Accord of Stabilization and Association (ASA), Albania takes an official step towards the European Union, after a fifteen-year period of vicissitudes in relations. The first trade and cooperation agreement between the institutions of Brussels and Tirana, following the collapse of the Communist regime, dates to 1992. Ever since that year Albania has had access to EU funding in the framework of the Phare pre-membership programme. To this was later added the Cards programme (modernization of the economic structures; reform of the system of justice and administration; regional cooperation). In 2001 the European Council of Goteborg gave the Commission the task of preparing the negotiations for an Accord of Stabilization and Association with Albania. Over the last 15 years the EU has allocated to Albania over 1,200 million euros (a part of which for the refugee emergency as a result of the war in Kosovo). The official negotiations, inaugurated in 2003, were concluded in 2006, with the green light of the European Parliament (which asked Albania among other things to boost its fight against corruption and promote freedom of information) and the signing of the ASA.