THE ALBANIAN TRANSITION AND THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE OF EU INTEGRATION

During the transition years, the EU integration agenda has been characterised by a combination of achievements, limitations and failures. Given the EU's expressed interest in incorporating all Western Balkan countries into the Union, the case of Albania may illustrate some characteristic features that explain the slow pace of integration. Albania’s ambition to rejoin Europe arose immediately after the collapse of communism. The idea of change has been equated with the legitimate but premature desire of Albanians to become part of the Western European family, thus entering a path of complex transformations, which began with many difficulties in the first decade of transition, and then continued with an attractive and tiring challenge of integration that is still far from being crowned with membership. EU integration is perceived more as an external socio-economic and political benefit with abundant welfare of all kinds: free movement, democratic rights, tolerance, etc., rather than an internal commitment to institutional responsibilities both political and legal, implementation of reforms, compliance with legal norms, free and fair competition, etc. It is therefore essential to reduce the gap between exaggerated expectations and tangible and deserved benefits, which makes the European Commission, as a supporter and promoter of reforms, irreplaceable in this regard, despite the two-year delay of the Albanian political class in accepting and aligning itself with institutional requests in this matter.