Peculiarities of the process of integration of the republic of Albania to the European Union

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to explore the process of joining Albania to the European Union in the mainstream of the lands of the Western Balkans became members of the united Europe. The preconditions and development of the process of formation of European integration in the Republic of Albania analyzed. Is undertaken an attempt at the analysis of the real possibilities of Albania to be taken in the European Union and the interest of this integrated association to maintain double-sided cooperation with Albania, in spite of the absence of necessary economic, political and other bases for its adoption in the European Union. Special attention is given to the domestic and foreign policy developments in the Republic of Albania, which directly influenced Albania’s cooperation with the European Union before and after the beginning of the active euro-integration dialogue. Special emphasis made on an overview of the most important issues and problematic moments on determining the start of the EU accession negotiation process with Albania. The methodology of the research based on the principles of systemicity, authenticity, historicism, logics. General scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (historical-typological, historical-system) methods have been used. The scientific novelty is that for the first time the European integration of Albania studied separately from other countries of the Western Balkans. The studies concluded that Albania’s desire to join the European Union linked to its desire to stabilize the country, modernize the domestic political system, improve the economic situation, facilitate the solution of social problems, participate in the mechanism of redistribution of financial resources, to enhance its political status by taking advantage of the benefits of membership in this organization. As for the EU’s position, official Brussels is pursuing a rather restrained and balanced policy of expanding its borders.