Albanians Strongly Back EU Accession

Tirana _ Albanians remain positive in backing their government in its bid for European Union membership, according to a new opinion poll.

The poll, conducted by the Tirana-based Albanian Institute for International Studies and obtained by Balkan Insight on Friday, showed that 92.5 per cent of respondents are in favor of Albania joining the EU.

It also showed that a majority of Albanians do not have a clear idea of the requirements for EU accession.

Some 65 percent of those asked simply equate accession with the introduction of an easier visa regime with EU countries.

The poll revealed that more than 49 per cent of Albanians believe that their country is ready to join immediately, while 24 per cent think that Albania will be invited to join the EU even if it is not ready or is lagging behind with its reforms.

Though the desire to join the bloc remains high, experts are concerned about the lack of popular understanding of the EU’s integration process.

"Opinions of this kind are troubling”, the poll’s organizers noted, especially accounting for the responses of those working in public administration who are directly involved in the process of integrating the country in the community of states."

The research showed that 54 per cent of employees in the public sector did not know if the country was ready to join or not.

Pollsters interviewed 1,500 respondents in the past few months with a 5 per cent margin of error.

Albania's aspirations to join the European Union began to take shape in the early 1990s, after the fall of the communist regime.

Last year Tirana signed a pre-membership agreement with Brussels.

However, as a weak state facing a difficult transition to democracy amidst widespread corruption, Albania has been slow at implementing the reforms required for eventual EU membership.