Chief negotiator Mazi: Remove the dust of prejudice for Albanians from EU costume

The chief negotiator for the development of negotiations for Albania's membership in the European Union, Zef Mazi, expressed today the conviction that the <x0-level decision to sit on the table for the Intergovernmental Conference will be taken very soon in the new year we enter, I hope we begin in spring”.

In an interview for Java News, Mazi spoke of achievements in this process this year. “With a strong commitment of the Albanian government and Prime Minister Edi Rama, the Negotiator Group's constitutionalisation has been established on the track, institutionalising the group's monthly, weekly and three-month reporting of the Group to the Chief negotiator and the latter on the State Integration Committee”, he said.

Also, Mazi said “has been institutionalised the chief negotiator's regular reporting at the government's weekly meetings”. A number of visits to Brussels and the EU countries' capitals have been conducted to the European Commission, the annual volume progress report under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement has been compiled and presented to the EU Commission's “package of action for the Commission's expected grants for a number of strategic projects under the I programme. PA III (2021-27), official meetings have been held with a number of EU countries' ambassadors in our country on drafts of the negotiating framework for Albania, annual Committee meetings and sub-communications with the Commission, etc.”, he said.

As you can see, Mazi stressed, “has been a volume work distributed on a wide network of bodies and institutions in and out of the country, which has demanded a major conceptual, organisational and management work”. Mazi expressed confidence that we have all done our best for the time and conditions Albania faces today at the challenge of European integration”.

I want to add that the integration process, as far as we are concerned, has moved at a fast pace, in its entire dimension and in an orderly, organized manner. We have worked hard to meet all the requirements of the process. Facts, time, and results I think they speak for themselves. They prove that almost all requirements have been met. A request is yet to be met, it has been put on a good path to rapid fulfillment, I hope by the end of”, he said.

Mazi stressed that “has been drafted, discussed, revised and approved by the State Committee of European Integration of Parliament, later by the Parliament's plenary session, an Action Plan for meeting these requirements”.

“Prime Minister and chief negotiator have directly followed the implementation of this plan. Monthly updates of the implementation performance of each of the Plan's 15 points have been made. The updates have been presented to the countries I have visited, regularly presented to the EU Delegation in Albania and, through it, embassies of EU member states, accredited in Albania. I was invited to meetings of all EU ambassadors. There I made a full performance presentation and answered all their questions. The latest update was presented to Ambassador Sorenca only three days ago”, he said.

As chief negotiator, Mazi said “participated and contributed to three important, major, annual meetings in the integration process”. “The annual appointment of the Stabilisation and Association Committee with the European Commission. The meeting analysed, discussed, made very positive assessments of the performance on the basis of the annual report (of 325 pages) in implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which was presented by Albania prior to the Committee's meeting. I have the conviction that the Commission praised the results in all areas and left duties for next year”, Mazi said.

He also said he attended the two-day meeting of the Western Balkans Investment Forum Steering Committee. EU Enlargement Commissioner Varhely was also invited, which held a comprehensive word for the investment strategy and investment projects in key areas. He provided details for the first 3.3 billion investment block, which will increase to 9 billion, represented by the Commission for the Western Balkans. He called for mobilising at least 20 billion for the Western Balkans' infrastructure to upgrade it to the EU level and include in the EU, where they belong. He referred to the need to strengthen and closer regional co-operation that Albania fully supports, Mazi said.

Chief negotiator Mazi also said that “Commissioner Varhely officially delivered a very good news in these difficult times, which was welcomed by Albania, in connection with bringing an anti vaccine. CO VID in the Western Balkans, “at the same time as EU member states“”.

Third, Mazi said she participated in the “IPA Monitoring Committee, where she discussed and exchanged thoughts about implementing IPA II, how things were done, what lessons have been learned for improvements and clarified the path and goals for the future”. “53 “fish” Investment action through grants has been presented to the Commission. They are in line with our country's strategic priorities for a number of sectors. Taking the opinion of Commission” is expected, he said.

Mazi said “ecuria on the integration road has no alternative”. “It's a one-way street with” “Albania has the determination to follow this road without stopping, convincingly, at the right speed. The sweeping reforms will continue without stopping for the good of our country and our people. So will Veting, though he may slow down some steps of building new justice institutions. We will achieve results, do our tasks and will soon win the formal technical opening of negotiations, with the first Intergovernmental Conference, because the political decision on opening negotiations has been adopted at the Council meeting in Zagreb in March 2020. The council has no problem and agrees with the negotiating framework for Albania”, he said.

Mazi said it is true that the Council failed to reach consensus decision. The matter is somewhat complicated. It is based on the dispute between Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia for sensitive bilateral points”. “This had its effect on us. The Council did not agree to adopt the negotiating framework only for our country, separating it from North Macedonia”, he said.

Mazi said that “Bulgaria has not been an obstacle to our country”. “She has agreed to proceed with the adoption of the framework for Albania. In our country's interest, it has been a minor mistake to disagree. I hope that the bilateral issues will be resolved as soon as possible through intensive dialogue. They do not become part of the 27th agreements, and as stated in the EU directive, this process will not be stopped, held hostage. Of course, this situation is somewhat disappointing, since the Council did not reach agreement on these issues at this end. I understand EU architecture, the interests of different countries, the difficulties of consensus among the 27 countries. The importance of our country is that of knowing how to move forward without stopping, not being upset, patiently, with foresight. We must all work, without exception, to convince our partners that our future, our country's, our youth, should not be captured hostage by the present”, he said.

Mazi said that “is of fundamental importance that political developments in a country do not exceed the EU's multidimensional foresight interests for having in its membership the countries of the Western Balkans, such as Albania. Among the EU countries there are still political prejudice dust on the suit against us, it should be shaken”, he said. / ATSH/