The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday at the Moncloa Complex the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, to whom he reiterated Spain’s support for the country’s accession to the EU just two days before the summit between the Union and the Western Balkans, which will be attended by the Chief Executive.
“Spain is actively in favor of enlargement,” the Spanish president declared. “I have constantly defended this opinion. We need to push for the accession of the Balkan countries to the EU. Europe is their space, just like ours”, he continued. Sanchez therefore reiterated to Rama Spain’s determination to strengthen its overall presence in the Balkan region. “It is high time we did so. We share interests and a common future,” he added.
Rama visited Madrid on the eve of the EU-Western Balkans summit, which will be held tomorrow in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and which, in any case, has not been convened to address the enlargement of the EU to the Balkan countries. During the meeting, Pedro Sánchez and Edi Rama signed a bilateral extradition agreement. Likewise, the Albanian Prime Minister visited the Congress of Deputies, held a meeting with the CEOE and signed a collaboration agreement with the Minister of Universities, Manuel Castells.
Albania has been a candidate country to join the EU since 2014, but negotiations on the EU accession process for Albania and North Macedonia, which were given the green light by the EU-27 in March 2020, are blocked by the veto of Bulgaria, which claims historical and cultural differences with Skopje. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared last week that Albania already meets the necessary requirements and expressed the hope that accession negotiations can begin before the end of the year.
