TIRANA – Albanian Minister of European Integration Klajda Gjosha declared in a televised interview that without all-accepted elections we risk the legitimacy of institutions and implementation of the vetting. Gjosha added that Albania would take steps backwards in consolidation of democracy and process of integration. According to her, political dialogue is necessary for stability of the country, ATA reports.
In reply to the question how the EU is glimpsing the political crisis in Albania, which seems to be never-ending, Gjosha said: In my view, it is a test for Albania and Albanians. Elections constitute an indisputable criterion for all countries aspiring to join the EU, but are also an indicator of a functioning democracy in the country. Of course, the monitoring of this process by European partners is conducted on a daily basis. On top of all, we need to demonstrate that Albania is a country that has reached the European standards to hold free and fair elections.
Responding to the question whether the EU is showing indifference to what is going on in Albania, Gjosha did not label it as indifference. “As I said this is a test for the country. I would like to draw a comparison between the accession and the school years, divided into stages. We have gone through some of them and at this point we are ahead of another one, the opening of negotiations. We have also spoken about the vetting process as a non-negotiable condition, but we have to keep something in mind, if Albania fails to conduct free and fair elections that are recognized by Albanians first and international community thereafter, the democracy would be in peril and Albania would go many years back, risking the legitimacy of institutions and parliament and leading implementation of vetting to a deadlock.