The Diplomat
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares concluded yesterday his three-day tour of the Western Balkans in Albania and North Macedonia, to whose governments he announced the holding of a ministerial conference on the region during the upcoming Spanish Presidency of the EU Council.
Yesterday began in Tirana, capital of Albania, where the Minister was received by his counterpart, Ota Xhaka. After the meeting, the two ministers held a joint press conference in which Albares conveyed “Spain’s renewed interest in the region and our support in its process of accession to Europe, which will obviously be present during the six-month Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union”.
A reflection of this, he continued, was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his Albanian counterpart to strengthen bilateral collaboration in the process of European integration. The MoU with Albania is similar to the one Albares signed earlier this week with the governments of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the one he was to sign, hours later, with his counterpart from North Macedonia.
Likewise, Albares affirmed that this visit, the first by a Spanish Foreign Minister to Albania in 14 years, reaffirms Spain’s interest in this country “as a NATO partner, Euro-Atlantic ally and candidate country for EU membership”.
For her part, Olta Xhaka welcomed “the first visit of a Spanish Foreign Minister to Albania in many years, which in itself is an important event in the relations between our countries.” “But what makes this visit even more significant is the timing of it, ahead of Spain’s assumption of the EU Presidency in the second half of the year,” she continued. It is “a gesture that we really appreciate very much, because it is a proof of the special attention that Spain is paying to our country and to the Western Balkans region, of its willingness to support the accession of the region to the European Union, but also of something even more important: of the assessment that Spain is making to all the countries of the region by committing itself to undertake a very constructive process of discussions and consultations,” she added.
During the bilateral meeting, she continued, the minister informed Albares “about Albania’s progress in implementing the commitments undertaken in the integration process, as well as about our expectations from this process.” Therefore, Xhaka asked the Minister that Spain, “as a Member State and as Presidency of the EU”, promote the discussions in the Council so that there is “a positive decision” regarding its aspirations for accession. Albania has had candidate status for eight years and accession negotiations began on July 19, 2022.
Afterwards, Albares made a tour of the streets of Tirana accompanied by the Mayor, Erion Veliaj, who gave him the Key to the City, and was received by the Prime Minister, Edi Rama, to whom he informed about the project to organize a ministerial meeting between the Western Balkans and the EU during the Spanish Presidency.
North Macedonia
José Manuel Albares then travelled to Skopje, where he held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani. At the subsequent press conference, the Spanish Minister announced once again the holding of a ministerial conference on the Balkans during the Spanish Presidency and assured that North Macedonia “is becoming more and more interesting for Spanish companies”.
For his part, the head of the Norwegian diplomacy expressed his satisfaction that “this first historic bilateral visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain to our country takes place on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, next year, and, at the same time, on the eve of the assumption of the Presidency of the EU by Spain”, which represents “a strong message of support for our European path”.
Osmani also stressed that North Macedonia remains firmly committed to fulfilling the obligations necessary to continue the accession negotiation process and assured that the Spanish Presidency of the European Union will come at “a key moment”, when the country “will have to enter the new phase of negotiations”. To this end, the two ministers signed the aforementioned Memorandum of Understanding on the development of cooperation in the process of the country’s accession to the European Union. North Macedonia made its application for membership in 2004, in 2005 it received candidate status, but the negotiation process did not begin until July 19, 2022 (as did Albania) after a complex prior agreement with Bulgaria concerning national identity.
The ministers also discussed possibilities for deepening economic relations, mutual support in multilateral organizations and sectoral cooperation between the two countries and exchanged views on the latest developments in the Western Balkans region and regional initiatives to increase mutual trust and overcome open bilateral issues between neighbors. Following this meeting, Albares concluded the tour with a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Bojan Maricic.
