Brussels – The first goal has been achieved. Albania has succeeded in opening all accession negotiations by the end of 2025, as repeatedly stated throughout a successful year that took the candidate country from zero to 33 chapters in just 13 months. “Today is a special day,” announced Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, encouraging Albania’s partners to keep going: “We are preparing a home for you in Europe.”
At the seventh Accession Conference with Albania on 17 November, Cluster 5 – ‘Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion’ was opened, including Chapters 11 (Agriculture and Rural Development), 12 (Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary), 13 (Fisheries and Aquaculture), 22 (Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments), and 33 (Financial and Budgetary Provisions).
“Opening all clusters is a great success, but closing them is the real prize,” Commissioner Kos said. She stressed that the coming years will be “the moment of truth,” as the success of one of the frontrunners in the EU accession process will depend on “how well and how quickly you adopt and implement EU legislation.” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama set out the country’s ultimate goal: “We aim to close accession negotiations by 2027, and then move into the phase of political support and full accession.”
The next step for the candidate country is to meet the interim benchmarks. As set out in the European Commission’s country report included in the 2025 Enlargement Package, Albania has made “significant progress” in justice reform and in tackling organised crime and corruption. At the same time, further efforts are required under Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’, which covers the sensitive issue of respect for the rule of law. “It will not be easy, but you have something very powerful in your favour,” Commissioner Kos noted, pointing to “the public support of Albanians and of the member states.”
Between Tirana and Brussels
Speaking of the strong pro-EU sentiment in Albanian public opinion, Prime Minister Rama acknowledged that the overwhelming majority sometimes appears to resemble that of “communist times – and it was the same under the Ottoman Empire – because we are loyal to empires.” It is a metaphor familiar to attentive observers, as is its corollary: “This is the first empire we want to be in,” meaning the European Union. “This majority is different not in numbers but in essence,” he continued, noting that “in the past we were all in by imposition, not by choice.”
For this reason, the Albanian Prime Minister made it clear that “we will do everything in our power to move forward with the same intensity, discipline and hard work to deliver” on the accession process. Or, using the controversial words of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “the re-unification process of Europe,” a common project that “we are building brick by brick together,” he added.
Rama’s characteristic rhetoric, portraying himself as a credible and reliable international leader for the EU, is gaining increasing recognition among EU institutions, as highlighted by Commissioner Kos. “In Edi Rama, Albania has a leader who is not looking back at the past or making excuses for why something cannot be done, but a leader who is looking to the future and finding solutions to existing challenges.” Even so, the partner most appreciated in Brussels never hesitates to deliver a few pointed remarks to his interlocutors.
As Rama noted, the previous years, when the process was stalled, “taught us never to take anything for granted in Brussels” and to “do the hard work and respond in every circumstance with humility and with results,” because “these are the two things these people appreciate the most.” His words do not provoke any negative reaction, as they are paired with a positive message: “If you look at all the years we struggled, with all the difficulties, pushbacks, slaps and punches, this process has helped us in a way that would otherwise have been impossible.”
Prime Minister Rama is fond of metaphors, and he introduced a new one: “It is like going to school and having to struggle, being told that you need to improve, and that you have to come back again because your exam was not good enough.” Yet, he added, “if you do not give up and continue to persist, you win.” Returning to the accession process, he underlined that “the last year has been amazing, because it has been rewarding, but it would not have happened without the previous years” of disillusionment. “Being sceptical should not prevent us from working every hour, every minute, to make it happen,” he reassured his counterparts in Brussels.
The state of EU-Albania relations
Albania’s application for EU membership was submitted in April 2009. EU candidate status was granted in June 2014. In April 2018, the European Commission issued a recommendation to open accession negotiations with Tirana, as Albania and North Macedonia were grouped together under the so-called ‘package approach’, meaning that either both would advance together or neither would.
Due to deteriorating relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, Tirana’s path towards EU accession negotiations also stalled until 19 July 2022, when the accession conferences took place in Brussels. On 25 September 2024, the Council positively assessed Tirana’s alignment with the opening benchmarks for the first cluster of chapters.
As of now, all 33 negotiating chapters are currently open. Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’ was launched on 15 October 2024, Cluster 6 – ‘External Relations’ on 17 December 2024, Cluster 2 – ‘Internal Market’ on 14 April 2025, Cluster 3 – ‘Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth’ on 22 May 2025, on 16 September 2025 Cluster 4 – ‘Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity’, and on 17 November 2025 Cluster 5 – ‘Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion’. In Tirana, the goal is clear: to conclude negotiations by 2027, with full membership in sight by 2030.
