
Democratic Party MP, Tritan Shehu, held an interpellation in the Parliament with the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ferit Hoxha, regarding a joint article published in February of this year by Prime Minister Edi Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
In that article, Rama and Vučić proposed a new approach to the European Union integration process, suggesting a model where the Western Balkan countries could gain access to the internal market and other areas of the EU, without veto rights and without changes to the Union's decision-making structures.
During his speech, Shehu stated that the interpellation should have been conducted with Prime Minister Edi Rama and not with Minister Hoxha, considering the article a personal initiative of the two leaders.
According to him, the proposal made in the article contradicts the principles of European integration and the resolutions previously adopted in the Assembly, which support Albania's full membership in the European Union.
He added that such an approach undermines the strategic interests of Albania and Albanians in the region.
Shehu harshly criticized the idea of the article, describing it as an attempt to introduce "autocratic regimes" into the EU and opposing any possibility of Albania's integration into the same process as Serbia, which he accused of being oriented towards Russia.
On the other hand, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ferit Hoxha, stated that the article should be seen in the context of the current debate on the enlargement of the European Union and new models of gradual integration.
According to him, the proposal aims to make the accession process more tangible and credible for the Western Balkan countries, by giving them some internal market and mobility benefits earlier, without compromising the objective of full EU membership.
Hoxha emphasized that this is not about giving up full membership, but about a flexible and accelerated approach to integration, at a time when the European Union itself is discussing new models of expansion and adaptation.