Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

has an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

in the

Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

has an embassy in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

. The countries are both members of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO).

History

Albania declared independence from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in November 1912, during the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

. The leading European powers of the time recognised Albania's independence at the 1913 London Peace Conference, where it was decided that the Dutch would take responsibility for internal security. This led to the Netherlands deploying military personnel to help set up the gendarmerie of the

Provisional Government of Albania The Provisional Government of Albania ( sq, Qeveria e Përkohshme e Shqipërisë) was the first government of Albania, created by the Assembly of Vlorë on 4 December 1912. It was a paternal government, led by Ismail Qemali, until his resignatio ...

. In 1946, the Netherlands called upon the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

to bring to a halt incidents along the northern border of Greece, involving the

Socialist People's Republic of Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. The Socialist People's Republic of Albania started their diplomatic relations with the Netherlands, and eight other Western European countries, in 1970. In the early 1990s the socialist regime collapsed, and while Albania turned to democracy they had no previous experience of implementing it. This led to several years of social and political instability. The Netherlands was able to assist Albania by starting a skills building program in 1999. Groups of Albanian politicians and officials, from both national and local level, would attend the Hague for workshops with their Dutch peers where they discussed the practice of good governance and administration within the democratic framework.

Accession of Albania to the EU

Generally being pro the accession of Albania to the European Union, the Netherlands has vetoed many times Albania's advancement, claiming lack of credible reforms, corruption situation and organized crime. In 2018 the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

released a progress report where it recommended the open of negotiations with Albania. In May 2018, eight Dutch MPs from the main six political parties visited Tirana. At the end of their visit, they stated that fulfilling the five official conditions set by the European institutions is not enough to warrant opening EU accession negotiations. They declared that Albania needs to demonstrate the will to indict and prosecute crime and the corruption of high officials. They also claimed an increase of Albanian criminality in the Netherlands, which doesn't help the country's process of integration into the EU. On 21 June, The

Dutch parliament The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States ...

blocked the opening of EU accession negotiations with Albania. A large majority in the Dutch parliament prohibited the government from allowing Albania to start negotiations, over ‘serious concerns about combating corruption’. The motion was supported by 124 votes, with 26 against. On 28–29 June 2018, the EU summit decided to postpone for the next year the decision on whether to open negotiations with Macedonia and Albania or not.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albania-Netherlands relations

Bilateral relations of the Netherlands

History

Accession of Albania to the EU

See also

References