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European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR)
News article4 October 2017Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations

EU-Albania: 8th Stabilisation and Association Committee

The 8th meeting of the Stabilisation and Association (SA) Committee between Albania and the European Union took place on 4 October 2017 in Brussels. The meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, Director for the Western Balkans in the...

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The 8th meeting of the Stabilisation and Association (SA) Committee between Albania and the European Union took place on 4 October 2017 in Brussels. The meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, Director for the Western Balkans in the Directorate General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission and Ms. Eralda Cani, Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania.

The SA Committee took stock of the most important developments of the past year in the areas of rule of law, public administration reform, trade, economic development, agriculture and fisheries, industry, internal market, information society, social policy, transport, energy and environment. The state of play with regard to the implementation of the EU financial assistance was also reviewed.

The European Commission welcomes the positive progress to date in all areas and underlined the need to see tangible results, notably on justice reform and the vetting of judges and prosecutors, and to continue the progress in all key priorities, including the fight against corruption and organised crime, including cannabis cultivation and trafficking, public administration reform and fundamental rights.

Beyond the five key priorities, the European Commission stressed that there are other important issues to be tackled. In particular the Commission acknowledged the commitment of the Albanian authorities in tackling the phenomenon of unfounded asylum applications to EU Member States and urged them to pursue the steady continuation of efforts to address the issue. The European Commission recalled that regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations are an essential part of Albania's progress on the path towards European Integration. The role of Albania as a strategic partner for the EU was emphasised and the consistent full alignment to the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy positively noted.

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