MEP Isabel Santos, rapporteur for Albania in the European Parliament, said in an interview with the Albanian daily Gazeta Shqiptare that Albania is ready for the opening of membership negotiation with EU.

She rejected the Open Balkans project as an initiative outside the process of EU integration.

“The Open Balkans initiative is something that was depending on the will and unity of different countries of the Western Balkans. This is something proposed entirely outside of the process of the membership in the European Union and for that I am not the right person to make comments”, said the Member of the European Parliament.

“What I can say is that I continue to believe that the best way ahead for the Western Balkans is through its European partners and the progress of the accession process. I understand that this is the wish of the majority of the Albanian people”.