Barroso: Albania's future is in EU

President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso met here Tuesday, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and discussed bilateral relations. "Today we had a very fruitful meeting. Above all, we took stock of the new government's reform plans in key areas, and we discussed the next steps in the EU integration process of Albania," Barroso told reporters after the meeting. "Albania's future is in the European Union. I am confident in Albania's potential and its capacity and commitment to fulfil the criteria and make progress, step by step, on its European path," he added. But Barroso also stressed that "there is an area that requires particular attention, the respect for rule of law, including the fight against corruption and organised crime. There is no time to lose and reforms must continue and even accelerate." On his part, Rama said the process of Albania's EU integration does not start now, it has already started a long time ago, and previous governments have done their job as much as they could. "We are very confident that we will achieve this objective and also we will believe that we have to work hard with the objective of opening the negotiations (for EU membership)," he noted. Albania's new government, which got the parliamentary approval earlier on Monday following the 23 June elections, will pursue a policy of "zero problems with neighbours," he added.