EU-Albania agreement approved

The European Parliament has cleared a stabilisation and association agreement between the EU and Albania marking the beginning of relations between the two sides.

The agreement opens the prospect of a close and far-reaching contractual relationship, deemed as instrumental for achieving political, economic and institutional stability in the country and the whole region.

In a resolution approved separately, MEPs agreed that the European Parliament should monitor the progress on implementation of the agreement through a joint parliamentary committee.

Speaking during the debate, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said the European Parliament was closely following internal developments in Albania and was offering support and good will to the Albanians.

The agreement, he said, opens a European perspective with an eventual promise of EU membership and that this would be a strong incentive for Albania to go through the root-and-branch reform that the country needs to achieve European standards.

He warned that the reform process would be long and painful.

"My country too, as others did, went through a similar reform process. Over the past 20 years, my country underwent a phenomenal transformation. Yet, this difficult path enabled us to achieve EU membership," Dr Busuttil said.

"Albania should look at this new agreement as an important milestone towards its gradual home-coming to Europe, leading to EU membership", he said.

In their final resolution, MEPs called on Albania to make greater efforts to protect minority rights, including the rights of the Greek minority, and to complete and implement minority-related legislation so that it supports the implementation of the relevant international conventions ratified by Albania.