▲ Tourist population in Gjirokastër district, southern Albania [Pixabay].

ESSAY / Jan Gallemí

Last November 24, 2019, the French government of Enmanuel Macron led the veto, along with other states such as Denmark or the Netherlands, to the accession of the Balkan nations of Albania and North Macedonia to the European Union. As justified by the President of the French Fifth Republic, this is because the largest issue of economic refugees entering France is from the Balkans, specifically from the aforementioned Albania. The latter country applied to the European Union on April 28, 2009 and on June 24, 2014 it was unanimously agreed by the 28 EU countries to grant Albania candidate country status. The reasons for this rejection are mainly economic and financial.[1]. There is also a slight concern about the diversity that exists in the ethnographic structure of the country and the conflicts that this could cause in the future, not only within the country itself but also in its relationship with its neighbors, especially with the issue of Kosovo and relations with Greece and North Macedonia.[2]. However, another aspect that has also been explored is the fact that Albania's accession would mean the incorporation into the EU of the first state in which the religion with the largest issue of followers is Islamic, specifically the Sunni branch. In this essay we will proceed to analyze the impact of this aspect and observe how or to what extent Albanian values, mainly because they are primarily Islamic in religion, may combine or diverge with those on which the common European project is based.

Evolution of Islam in Albania

It is necessary to go back in history to take into account the reasons why a European country like Albania has developed a social structure in which the religion most professed by part of the population is Sunni. Because of the geographical region in which it is located, it would theoretically be more common to think that Albania would have a higher percentage of orthodox population than Sunni.[3]. The same is true for Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Originally this region was mostly Orthodox Christian in the south (like most of the Balkan states today) due to the fact that it was one of the many territories that made up the Byzantine Empire until the 13th century, when this nation gained its independence. However, the reason why Islam is so present in Albania, unlike its neighboring states, is that it was more religiously influenced by the Ottoman Empire, successor to the Byzantine Empire. This fell in 1453 and its territories were occupied by the Ottomans, a Turkish people established at that time on the Anatolian peninsula. According to historians such as Vickers, it was between the 17th and 18th centuries that a large part of the Albanian population converted to Islam.[4]The reason for this, as John L. Esposito points out, was that for the Albanian population, changing their religion meant getting rid of the higher taxes that Christians had to pay in the Ottoman Empire.[5].

Religion in Albania has since been shaped by events. As far as we know from programs of study such as those of Gawrych in the 19th century, the Albanian society was then mainly divided into three groups: Catholics, Orthodox and Sunnis (the latter represented 70% of the population). During this same century many of the known nationalisms of European character were born and in the Balkans began what is known as the crisis of the East. During this period many Balkan peoples revolted against the Ottomans, but the Albanians, being identified with them by their religion, initially remained faithful to the Sultan.[6]. Because of this support, Muslim Albanians began to be pejoratively referred to as "Turks."[7]. This caused Albanian nationalism to distance itself from the emerging Ottoman pan-Islamism of Sultan Abdualhmid II. From this emerged, according to Endresen, an Albanian national revival called Rilindja, which sought the support of Western European powers.[8].

Generally, the Balkan independence movements that emerged in the 19th century reinforced Christian as opposed to Muslim sentiment, but in Albania this was not the case; as Stoppel points out, both Albanian Christians and Muslims cooperated in a common national goal .[9]. This fostered the coexistence between both beliefs (already present in earlier times) and allowed the differentiation of this movement with Hellenism.[10]. It should be noted that at that time in Albania Muslims and Christians were peculiarly distributed territorially: in the north there were more Catholic Christians who were not so influenced by the Ottoman Empire and in the south there was also a predominance of Orthodox because of the border with Greece. On November 28, 1912 the Albanians, being led by Ismail Qemali, finally declared independence.

The international recognition of Albania by the Treaty of London meant the imposition of a Christian monarchy, which led to the indignation of the Muslim Albanians, who according to estimates accounted for 80% of the population, and provoked the so-called Islamic revolt. The revolt was led by Essad Pasha Toptani, who declared himself to be the "savior of Albania and Islam" and surrounded himself with disgruntled clerics. However, during the period of World War I, Albanian nationalists soon realized that religious differences could cause the fracturing of the country itself and decided to break ties with the Muslim world with the intention of being able to have "a common Albania", which led to Albania declaring itself as a country with no official religion; this allowed the training of a government with representation from the four main religious faiths: Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic and Orthodox. Albanian secularist elites programmed a reform of Islam that was more in line with Albania's traditions to make the country more distinct from Turkey, and religious institutions were nationalized. From 1923 onwards the Albanian National congress ended up carrying out the changes from a perspective very similar to that of Western liberalism. The most important reforms were the suppression of the hijab and the outlawing of polygamy, and a different way of praying was implemented, replacing the Salat ritual. But the biggest change was the substitution of Sharia law for Western-like laws.

During the Second World War Albania was occupied by fascist Italy and in 1944 a communist regime was imposed under the leadership of Enver Hoxha. This communist regime saw in the different religious beliefs of the country a danger to maintain the security of the authoritarian government, and therefore declared Albania as the first officially atheist state and proposed the persecution of the different religious practices. In this way repressive laws were imposed that prevented professing the Catholic or Orthodox faith, and prohibited Muslims from reading or possessing the Koran. In 1967, the government demolished as many as 2,169 religious buildings and transformed the rest into public buildings. Of 1,127 buildings that had some connection to Islam at the time, only about 50 remain today, and in very poor condition.[11]. It is believed that the impact of this subject of persecution was reflected in the increase of non-believers within the Albanian population. Between 1991 and 1992 a series of protests brought the regime to an end. In this new democratic Albania, Islam was again the predominant religion, but it was preferred to maintain the non-denominational nature of the state in order to guarantee harmony between the different beliefs.

Influences from the international field

Taking into account the reality of Albania as a country with a majority Islamic population, we will now analyze the impact of its accession to the European Union and to what extent the values of both contradict or combine.

To begin with, if all this is analyzed from a perspective based on the theory of "constructivism", as proposal by Helen Bull, it can be seen how Albania from the beginning of its history has been a territory whose social structure has been strongly influenced by the interaction of different international actors. During the years when it was part of the Byzantine Empire, it largely absorbed Orthodox values; when it was occupied by the Ottomans, most of its population adopted the Islamic religion. In the same way, during the de-Ottomanization of the Balkans, the country adopted currents of political thought such as liberalism due to the influence of Western European powers. This generated a desire to create a constitutionalist and parliamentary government whose vision of politics was not based on any religious morality.[12]. It can also be seen that the communist regime was imposed in a context common to that of the other Eastern European states. At the same time, it also returned to the democratic path as a consequence of the fall of the USSR, even though Albania had not maintained good relations with the Warsaw Pact since 1961.

Since Albania applied for EU membership, these liberal values have been strengthened again. In particular, Albania strives to improve its infrastructure and to eradicate corruption and organized crime. So it can be observed that Albanian society always adapts to being part of a supra-governmental organization. This is an important aspect because it means that the country is most likely to actively participate in the proposals made by the European Commission, without being driven by internal social values. However, this in turn gives a point in favor of those MEPs who claimed that the veto decision was a historical mistake. For if it does not alienate itself from the EU, Albania could alienate itself from other international actors. According to the MEPs themselves, these could be Russia or China.

However, there are two limitations to this statement. The first is that since 2012 Albania has been a member of NATO, so it is already partly alienated from the West in military terms. But a second aspect is more important, and that is that Albania already tried during the Cold War to alienate itself with Russia and China, but found that this had negative effects as it constituted a satellite state. On the other hand, and this is where Islamic values come into play, Albania today is part of organizations of an Islamic nature such as the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation). So the rejection of the EU could mean the realignment of Albania with other Islamic states, such as the Arabs or Turkey. Turkey's own government, currently led by Erdogan's party, has a neo-Ottomanist nature: it seeks to bring the states that formerly constituted the Ottoman Empire closer to its influence. Albania is being influenced by this neo-Ottomanism and a European rejection could bring it back into the bosom of this conception.[13]. In addition, if it approaches Middle Eastern Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Albania would run the risk of assimilating the Islamic values of these territories.[14]These are incompatible with those of the EU because they do not comply with many of the articles signed in the Universal Declaration of Rights of 1952.

Islam and the European Union

Another aspect would be to ask in which aspects do Islamic values contradict those of the EU? The European Union generally claims to be against polygamy, homophobia or religious practices that oppose the dignity of the person. This has generated, among other things, a powerful internal discussion of whether the hijab can be considered as an internship staff that should not be legally prevented. Many feminist groups are against this aspect as they relate it to family patriarchalism.[15]However, other EU groups claim that this is only a fully respectable individual andstaff internship and that its suppression would be a gesture of an Islamophobic nature. In any case, as mentioned above, Albania abolished both polygamy and the wearing of the hijab in 1923 as not reflecting the values of Islam in Albania.[16]. In this aspect it is observed that although Albania is a country of Islamic majority, this Islam is much more influenced by the Europeanist currents than by the Eastern ones: that is to say, an Islam adapted to the European customs and whose values are currently more similar to those of the neighboring Balkan states.

Some members of the European Parliament, generally from far-right groups, such as Ressamblement National or Alternativ für Deutschland, claim that Islamic values will never be compatible with European values because they are expansionist and radical in nature. The Dutch Geert Wilders claims that the Koran "is more anti-Semitic than Mein Kampf".[17]. In other words, they allege that those who profess Islam are incapable of maintaining good relations with other faiths because the Koran itself speaks of waging war against the infidel through Jihad. And as an example they cite the terrorist attacks that the Islamist group DAESH has provoked during the last decade, such as those perpetrated in Paris and Barcelona.[18]. But these groups should be reminded that a sacred text such as the Koran can be interpreted in many ways and that although some Muslim groups believe in this incompatibility of good relations with those who think differently, the majority of Muslims interpret the Koran in a very different way, just as happens with the Bible, although some very specific groups become irrational.

This is clearly the case in Albania, where since its democratization in 1991 there has been a national project integrating all citizens, regardless of their different beliefs. Rather, throughout its history as an independent country in Albania there has only been one period of religious persecution and this was due to the repression of communist authoritarianism. A limitation that could be given in this aspect would be the Islamic revolution that the country suffered in 1912. But it is worth noting that this revolution, despite its strong Islamic sentiment, served to overthrow a puppet government; after it no law was enforced to impose Islamic values on the rest. So it should be noted that the political model of Albania is very similar to the one exposed by Rawls in his book "Political Liberalism", because it configures a state with multiple values (although there is a predominant one), but its laws are not drafted based on any of them, but on common values among all of them based on reason.[19]. This model proposed by Rawls is one of the founding instructions of the European Union and Albania would be a state that would exemplify these same values.[20]. This is what the Supreme Pontiff Francis I said during his visit to Tirana in 2014: "Albania demonstrates that peaceful coexistence between citizens belonging to different religions is a path that can be followed in a concrete way and that produces harmony and releases the best forces and creativity of an entire people, transforming simple coexistence into true partnership and fraternity".[21]. 

Conclusions

It can be concluded that Albania's values as an Islamic majority state do not appear to be divergent from those of Western Europe and thus the European Union. Albania is a non-denominational state that respects all religious beliefs and encourages all individuals, regardless of their faith, to participate in the political life of the country (which has much merit due to the significant religious diversity that has distinguished Albania throughout its history). Moreover, Islam in Albania is extremely different from that of other regions due to the impact that European influence had on the region. Not only that, but also the country seems very willing to collaborate on common projects. The only thing that, in the field of values, would lead one to think that Albania is not suitable to join the EU would be that, just as it was influenced by the actors that have interacted with it throughout its history, it would be influenced again by Muslim states with values divergent from the European ones. But this is more likely to be the case if the European Union were to reject Albania, as it would seek the support of other allies in the international arena.

The implications of the accession of the first state with a Muslim majority to the EU would certainly be advantageous, since it would encourage the variety of religious thought within the Union and this could lead to a greater understanding between the different beliefs that make up the Union. There would be the possibility of a greater presence of Sunni deputies in the European Parliament and it would help to enhance coexistence within other EU states on the basis of what has been done in Albania, as may be the case in France, where 10% of the population is Muslim. It should also be said that Albania's exemplary multi-religious behavior would seriously weaken Euroscepticism and would also help to foster concord within the Balkan region. As Donald Tusk has argued, the Balkans must be given a European perspective and it is in the best interest of the EU that Albania becomes part of it.

Albania and North Macedonia forced to accept tougher negotiating rules, as Serbia and Montenegro reassess their options

Brexit has been absorbing the EU's negotiating attention for many months and now Covid-19 has slowed down non-priority decision processes. In October 2019, the EU decided to cool talks with the Western Balkans, under pressure from France and some other countries. Albania and North Macedonia, which had done the work that Brussels had requested in order to formally open negotiations, have seen the rules of the game changed just before the start of the game.

▲ Western Balkans meeting with EU countries held in London in 2018 [European Commission].

article / Elena López-Doriga

Since its origins, the European Community has been evolving and expanding its competencies through treaties structuring its functioning and purposes. issue membership of the organization has also expanded considerably: it began with 6 countries (France, Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and now consists of 27 (following the recent departure of the United Kingdom).

The most remarkable year of this enlargement was 2004, when the European Union undertook to integrate 10 new countries, which was a great challenge, given that these countries were mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, coming from the "iron curtain", with less developed economies coming out of communist systems and Soviet influence.

The next goal in the enlargement is the possible integration into the EU of the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). However, at a summit held in Brussels at the end of 2019 for the opening of accession negotiations for new members, some EU countries were against continuing the process, so for the time being the accession of the candidate countries is going to have to wait. Some EU leaders have described this postponement as a "historic mistake".

Expansion into Central and Eastern Europe

In May 1999, the European Union launched the Stabilization and association Process. The Union undertook to develop new contractual relations with Central and Eastern European countries that expressed a desire to join the Union through stabilization and association agreements, in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade or human rights reform. As a result, in 2004 the EU integrated the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovenia (the first member of the Western Balkans). In 2007 Bulgaria and Romania also joined the Union and in 2013 Croatia, the second Western Balkan country to join.

Integration of the Western Balkans

Since the end of the Yugoslav wars at the end of 2001, the EU has played a very prominent role in the Balkans, not only as an economic power subject reconstruction, but also as a guarantor of stability and security in the region. The EU's goal is in part to prevent the Western Balkans from becoming a security black hole, due to the rise of rising nationalism, the growing tension between Moscow and Washington, which fuels tensions between ethnic groups in the region, and the economic penetration of China into the area. Clearer progress towards Balkan integration was reaffirmed in the Commission's Western Balkans Strategy of February 2018 and in the Sofia Declaration following the EU-Western Balkans Summit held in the Bulgarian capital on May 17, 2018. At the Summit, EU leaders reiterated their unequivocal support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans. "I see for the Western Balkans no future other than the EU. There is no alternative, there is no plan B. The Western Balkans are part of Europe and belong to our community," said the then president of the European committee , Donald Tusk.

Official candidates: Albania and Macedonia

Albania applied for EU membership on April 28, 2009. In 2012, the Commission noted significant progress and recommended that Albania be granted candidate status, subject to the implementation of a number of outstanding reforms. In October 2013, the Commission unequivocally recommended that Albania be granted candidate status. Angela Merkel paid a visit to Tirana on July 8, 2015 and stated that the prospect of accession of the countries of the Balkan region to the European Union (EU) was important for peace and stability. He stressed that in the case of Albania the pace of the accession process depended on the completion of reforms in the judicial system and the fight against corruption and organized crime. In view of the country's progress, the Commission recommended the opening of accession negotiations with Albania in its 2016 and 2018 reports.

On the other hand, the Republic of North Macedonia (former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) applied to join the Union in March 2004 and was granted candidate country status in December 2005. However, the country did not start accession negotiations because of the dispute with Greece over the use of the name "Macedonia". When it was successfully resolved through the Prespaagreement with the new name of the country - Northern Macedonia - the committee agreed on the possibility of opening accession negotiations with this country in June 2019, assuming the necessary conditions were met.

Potential Candidates: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a potential candidate country. Although it negotiated and signed a Stabilization and associationagreement with the Union in 2008, the entrance into force of this agreement was Fail mainly due to the country's failure to execute a core topic judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. In the meantime, the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not reached an agreement concerning the rules of procedure governing its meetings with the European Parliament (twice a year), as these meetings have not been held since November 2015, and this status constitutes a breach of the agreement by Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Kosovo is a potential candidate for EU membership. It declared its independence unilaterally in February 2008. All but five member states have recognized Kosovo's independence (Cyprus, Slovakia, Spain, Greece and Romania). Among the countries in the region, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have also not recognized Kosovo as an independent state. In September 2018, the European Parliament went a step further and decided to enter into inter-institutional negotiations, which are currently ongoing. However, the fact that not all member countries currently recognize its independence is a major brake.

Negotiating access: Montenegro and Serbia

Montenegro, one of the smallest states on the European continent, has been part of different empires and states over the past centuries, finally gaining independence peacefully in 2006. It applied to join the Union in December 2008; it was granted candidate country status in December 2010, and accession negotiations began in June 2012. By the end of 2018, 32 negotiating chapters had been opened, out of a total of 35.

Serbia 's process began in December 2009 when former President Boris Tadić officially submitted the membership application and also handed over to justice the war criminal Ratko Mladić, manager of the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War, who was hiding in Serbian territory. However, the conflict with Kosovo is one of the main obstacles Serbia faces in achieving its accession to the European Union. It was granted candidate country status in March 2012, after Belgrade and Pristina reached an agreement on Kosovo's regional representation. The official opening of accession negotiations took place on January 21, 2014. In February 2018, the Commission published a new strategy for the Western Balkans stating that Serbia (as well as Montenegro) could join the Union by 2025, while acknowledging the "extremely ambitious" nature of this prospect. Serbia's future accession to the Union, like that of Kosovo, remains closely linked to the high-level dialogue between these two countries, held under the auspices of the Union, which should lead to a legally binding comprehensive agreement on the normalization of their relations.

A step back in the negotiations

In October 2019, a summit was held in Brussels whose goal was to structure the negotiations of the official candidates to join the EU. Both North Macedonia and Albania were convinced that a date would be set to start the long process of negotiations. However, the process reached an impasse after seven hours of wrangling, with France rejecting the entrance of both countries. France led the campaign against this enlargement, but Denmark and the Netherlands also joined the veto. They claim that the EU is not ready to take on new states. "It doesn't work too well at 28, it doesn't work too well at 27, and I'm not sure it will work any better with another enlargement. So we have to be realistic. Before enlarging, we need to reform ourselves," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

The then president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, considered that this suspension was a great historical mistake and hoped that it would only be momentary. For his part, Donald Tusk said he was "ashamed" of the decision, and concluded that North Macedonia and Albania were not to blame for the status created, as the European Commission's reports were clear that both had done what was necessary to start negotiations with the EU.

In Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that the lack of consensus among European leaders would not change Albania's future aspirations for EU membership. He assured that his government was determined to carry forward the reforms initiated, in the electoral, judicial and administrative fields, because it considered them necessary for the development of the country, not just because they were requested in Brussels.

In North Macedonia, on the other hand, the European rejection was deeply disappointing, as the country had proceeded to reform its institutions and judicial system and to fight corruption; it had also modified its Constitution, its name and its national identity. The refusal left this country, an official candidate for accession for 14 years, in a status of great uncertainty, so that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev decided to dissolve the Parliament and call elections for April 12, 2020 (later postponed due to the Covid-19 emergency). "We have fulfilled our obligations, but the EU has not. We are victims of a historical mistake that has caused a huge disappointment," Zaev assured.

A new, stricter process

Despite the fact that, according to the Commission, North Macedonia and Albania fulfilled the requirements to become accession candidates, Macron proposed to tighten the accession process. In order to unblock the status and continue with the process, which the EU claims to be a priority goal , Brussels has given in to the French president's request by setting a new methodology for integrating new countries.

The new process provides for the possibility of reopening chapters of the negotiations that were considered closed or of fail talks on any of the chapters; it even envisages paralyzing the negotiations as a whole. It is intended to give more weight to the governments and to facilitate the suspension of pre-accession funds or the suspension of the process if the candidate countries halt or reverse the reforms they have committed to. The new method will apply to Albania and North Macedonia, whose negotiations with the EU have not yet started, while Serbia and Montenegro will be able to choose whether to opt in, without having to change their established negotiating framework , according to the Commission.