Prime Minister Edi Rama says that currently, Albania does not meet EU standards regarding food safety, due to low standards.
During his speech at the meeting of the Socialist parliamentary group, Rama stated that he will request an intermediate phase, 5 years after EU membership, to meet the criteria for this sector.
Rama : We are negotiating the interim periods, after the moment of accession, to give the country the opportunity to be ready to meet the criteria, to be together with the European family. This is not done exclusively for us, it is part of the accession mechanism, countries have done it before us. Croatia has negotiated and has managed to get a 10-year interim phase, to meet the criteria in the environmental aspect. We refer to that case and based on that precedent, we will be able to get such a facility. The main battle is for the food production sector, for producers in the countryside, for entrepreneurship. In today's conditions, we are unintegrable in the EU, due to the insufficient level of food security. We are trying to win an interim phase, 5 years after accession, preparations must begin now. The streets of Albania were both food markets and slaughterhouses. Looking back to 2013, everyone was watching the memory movie, the living thing being slaughtered on the road. Or all of Albania's highways, were abandoned to the streets, were limited by informal food stalls and markets. Much progress has been made, but we are still far away. We need to know what this means. At the moment of accession and when the interim period ends, no food produced in Albania can be sold except in Albania. Even in Albania, food can be blocked because it does not meet safety criteria. The worst scenario, everything that is eaten, is imported. It takes super work, but also super determination, not to forgive anything and anyone in the name of necessity, to continue working. The work to be done is very big.