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The European Union has opened the final negotiation stretch for Albania to join the bloc.
The Western Balkan country is expected to conclude accession talks by the end of 2027, putting it on become a member of the EU by 2030. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has injected momentum in negotiations calling it a geopolitical imperative.
“Albania is the best example of the transformative power of enlargement,” European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos told reporters on Monday. “It shows that when you deliver, you progress”.
According to the latest Commission’s progress report on EU enlargement, Albania is on the right track to end accession negotiations in 2027. Together with Montenegro, Albania is now seen as one of the frontrunners in the EU accession process.
But some hurdles remain, Commissioner Kos argued.
“Now is the moment to accelerate, especially in critical areas such as justice reform, judicial independence, and the fight against corruption,” the Commissioner said after the seventh EU-Albania Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels on Monday.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama praised the EU’s fresh push for enlargement, arguing that the process made this year reflects a decade of efforts.
“What Albania and the Albanians win in this process is something beyond the formal accession itself, Rama stated. “We win a country that functions based on institutions, on the rule of law, on all the standards and the principles that make the EU countries so admirable”.
Speaking at the Euronews EU Enlargement Summit earlier this month, the Albanian PM said that he is hopeful momentum will accelerate over the next two years, a crucial period as all candidates must gather approval from the 27 member states.
Albania applied for EU membership in 2009 and gained candidate status in 2014.
Tirana has the highest level of public support for EU accession among all candidate country, with approximately 90% of its citizens saying they are in favour of joining the bloc.
“There is no escape from Albania,” Rama told a press conference on Monday. “Better they (the EU) get us in because we’ll stalk them to the end. And so if they want to get rid of us, they have to get us in”.
