Albania and the Western Balkans enlargement process – The need for reciprocity

Our Laura Skana has summarized the EU enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans. On the example of Albania she showed that the EU's proactivity towards the enlargement is not as hot as often proclaimed. Even though the country is trying to catch the EU standards for a long time now, France, Denmark and Netherlands vetoed the accession talks with Albania and the country will have to wait again till June 2019.

The country pays a lot of attention to international cooperation, which consequently shows in their role in regional efforts. Since Albania is part of the Council of Europe and has ratified the European Convention of Human Rights in 1996, the human rights legal framework is in line with European standards, which helps its case regarding the human rights reform. So far, Albania has progressed considerably towards the reforms and has shown persistent willingness to continue with the changes still needed.

The full blog in English language is available here.