The emptied room at the Foreign Committee that was discussing about
Kosovo after signing the Stabilization Association Agreement with
Albania, which is waiting a ratification from the European Parliament,
was filled with the arrival German Foreign Minister, Frank Walter
Steinmeier, who mentioned Kosovo in the first minute of his speech.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany: I want to thank the Foreign Committee for the work they did to achieve some important issues, such as the Eastern Partnership (note: EU initiative with former Soviet countries) in the past three months, which I don’t forget. I am sure I will not forget the work done by the two representatives of this committee during the internal political stalemate in Albania. This would have not been resolved if some of you wouldn’t go there and try to build bridges.
The Minister said later that he had been at the Paris stadium. He spoke for more than one hour at the Foreign Committee about terrorism, refugees, Syria, Ukraine. He said that the German government stands by France in the fight against ISIS, but cannot force anyone to do the same.
The French European MPs showed discontent about the German reaction, as the most important country for the defense budget. They also spoke about removing France from the European defense.
Balkan was mentioned only by the Slovakian Eduard Kukan, who focused on the negotiations of Serbia and the relations with Kosovo.
The German Minister returned to Albania with the Chairman of the Foreign Committee, Elmar Brok.
Steinmeier: I will not forget your commitment for resolving the Albanian crisis, in which different political groups were blocking the political process. I think that because of your engagement, Albania is among the Balkan countires that is making significant progress.
The two members of the Foreign Committee of the European Parliament, Kukan and Fleckenstein, contributed for reaching a political agreement in December 2014, which made possible for the opposition to return in Parliament. It included the issue of appointing people with a criminal past in public posts before the general elections. The local elections were considered a lost chance for the European Commission progress report.
Prepared by: Arta TOZAJ
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