Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will leave on Sunday for a four-day trip to the Western Balkans. The program includes meetings with his colleagues and the heads of government of Albania and North Macedonia, as well as speeches to the parliaments there.
In the two EU candidate countries with which accession negotiations began last summer, the Federal President wants to be a “door opener” for local entrepreneurs. “The region offers enormous opportunities for the Austrian economy. It is important that the EU – especially in difficult times like these – does not forget about the Western Balkans. Austria will make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Alexander Van der Bellen before his trip.
The first stop on the four-day journey is Albania, where political talks will take place from Monday. For example, the Austrian Federal President will meet with Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Speaker of Parliament Lindita Nikolla and Prime Minister Edi Rama. A similar program will follow in North Macedonia on Wednesday. There, Van der Bellen meets President Stevo Pendarovski and Speaker of Parliament Talat Xhaferi. The talks would mainly focus on EU rapprochement between the two countries.
fight corruption
“Fighting corruption, strengthening the rule of law and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary are priorities. Because these are fundamental building blocks on the way to the EU,” Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) said in a broadcast. She accompanies the Federal President together with Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) and a large business delegation consisting of representatives of about 30 local businesses.
Schallenberg said the announcements should “finally be followed by action”. About 20 years ago, the six countries of the Western Balkans were promised the prospect of joining the EU. Accession negotiations finally started in July of the previous year. Albania has been a candidate since 2014, and North Macedonia even since 2005. The country was a model country for the planned reforms, but argued with Greece about the name of the state for years. Individual member states such as Bulgaria also had concerns.
Source: Krone
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