[ALBSA-Info] EU raises prospect of closer ties with Albania

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

EU raises prospect of closer ties with Albania

  
BRUSSELS, June 6 (Reuters) - Albania, one of Europe's poorest countries, took 
a modest step towards its eventual goal of membership of the European Union 
on Wednesday. 

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, adopted a report 
recommending the opening of negotiations on a so-called Stabilisation and 
Association Agreement (SAA) -- the first formal step on the road to 
membership. 

The 15-nation EU recently forged such an accord with Albania's neighbour 
Macedonia, now racked by fighting between government forces and ethnic 
Albanian rebels. The EU is also set to sign an SAA accord with another Balkan 
state, Croatia. 

"The perspective of opening SAA negotiations is seen by the Commission as a 
way of helping to maintain the momentum of recent political and economic 
reform, and of encouraging Albania to continue its constructive and 
moderating influence in the region," the Commission said in a statement. 

Albania has won Western praise in recent months for its condemnation of the 
gunmen fighting in Macedonia and for its refusal to endorse their call for a 
'Greater Albania' state. 

But EU officials said the SAA negotiations were unlikely to begin until the 
end of this year at the earliest and still hinged on the degree of political 
stability reached in Albania. 

"We support the idea of opening negotiations as soon as possible but there 
are clear conditions which Albania must first meet," said one official. 

Albanians elect a new government later this month in what is seen as a litmus 
test for democracy in the tiny Balkan state. 

The ruling Socialists hope to win a second four-year mandate to follow up 
what they say was a first term restoring law and order and stabilising the 
economy after fraudulent pyramid schemes collapsed and sparked nationwide 
riots in 1997.