“The Western Balkans is an integral part of the European Union and Spain fully supports the integration of the region into the 27-member bloc,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday during his official visit to Tirana.
Prime Minister Sanchez has recently visited Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia. ‘The European Union cannot be imagined without the Balkans,’ he was quoted as saying.
The EU has decided to eventually start accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, although the Western Balkan countries are at different stages of European integration. Sanchez himself said that it is normal for there to be disagreements between two friendly countries, such as Spain and Albania, and pointed out that, in this case, there is also a disagreement over the recognition of Kosovo’s independence.
“We think it is a unilateral declaration of independence and as such, a violation of international law, so we cannot accept it. We say this with all the respect we have for the Albanian people,’ Pedro Sanchez said at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
(Danas, 01.08.2022)
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