Enlargement Commissioner Fuele said opposition leader Edi Rama will hold responsibility for the health of the strikers
TIRANA TIMES
BRUSSELS, May 4 – Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, who also participated in the two-day parliamentary meeting in Brussels, placed responsibility for the unresolved crisis on both parties.
Fuele confirmed that he had made phone calls to the two leaders of the main political parties in Albania — Sali Berisha from the ruling Democratic Party and Edi Rama from the Socialist Party — to stress the responsibility that they bear for the situation in Albania.
“Political parties share the responsibility and that concerns both those who are in power as well as the opposition,” Fuele said.
“But Mr. Rama has a bigger burden of responsibility because of the well-being of those who are on hunger strike,” he said.
Fuele said he was concerned about lack of constructive political dialogue and the full functioning of Parliament, but above all he said he was worried about the hunger strike which risks making stances harsher.
Despite praising Albania’s progress in meeting the roadmap criteria, Fuele did not give a date but said he hoped the process would be concluded within this year.
Speaking of the Albania’s EU integration process, the Enlargement Commissioner warned failure to resolve the political crisis would also affect the drafting of the opinion on Albania’s integration process.
Albania has been a NATO member state since April 2009. The country has also submitted its application for EU membership, subsequently submitted its pre-accession questionnaire, and is currently waiting for the European Commission to issue its opinion on when Albania should be granted EU candidate status.
However, this next step could be jeopardized if the parties don’t find a solution soon, as the parliament, one of the main state institutions, has not functioned properly for months.
