Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-060"
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"en.20060906.5.3-060"2
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"Mr President, I have no doubt personally that Albania must have European prospects. It is positive both for this country and for the area of the Balkans and southeast Europe as a whole. If we isolate Albania, we condemn it to remain a state in which and from which crime and corruption flourish and are exported. I do not think that such a policy is to anyone's benefit.
On the contrary, through a policy of rapprochement and through the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, we are giving Albania incentives to move in the direction of respect for human rights, economic reform and stronger rule of law and democratic institutions.
It is true that, over recent years, despite the obstacles and difficulties, Albania has, generally speaking, moved forward. That is why we are signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in question. Nonetheless, it is also true that, at the same time, there are a great many problems in this country. My honourable friends have already referred to corruption, to problems in relation to the freedom of the press and to the way in which electoral rolls and so forth are prepared.
I, for my part, wish to comment on three individual issues which I consider to be of crucial importance and I believe that, with cooperation in particular between the European Commission and Albania, they can be overcome and resolved.
The first is compliance on the part of Albania with the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Progress has been already been made on setting up a state minorities committee, on granting permission, for example, to set up a private Greco-Albanian school in Himara and so forth. However, other issues remain, Commissioner, such as the translation of legislation into minority languages, the signposting of local traditional names, an increase in personnel dealing with minority issues and so forth.
I believe that the Commission must concern itself directly with these issues and to record them objectively in its annual report published in October.
The second issue concerns the census of the population, an objective census of the population which will adequately record the size of the minorities and not give rise to doubts as to its accuracy.
The third issue that I wish to emphasise is the restoration of and compensation for property because, even though the law on this issue was passed back in 2004, there is a problem of lack of transparency, abuse and procedural irregularities. In the area of Himara in particular, there is the serious issue of the property of the Greek minority.
Consequently, emphasising again that I believe in the European prospects of Albania and voting for this agreement, I believe that the time has come to move from theory to practice. It is the responsibility of the European Commission to put what is contained in the text into practice with pressure on and cooperation with the Albanian authorities."@en1
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