Brussels – It is a historic moment for Albania, coming just less than two years after the formal launch of its EU accession negotiations. The provisional closure of three chapters marks a first, giving fresh impetus not only to Tirana’s accession process but also to its ambition of completing all the negotiations in record time, by the end of 2027.
At the ninth Accession Conference with Albania on 14 July, Chapter 25 (Science and Research), Chapter 26 (Education and Culture) and Chapter 30 (External Relations) were provisionally closed, completing the “Super Tuesday” of EU enlargement with four Accession Conferences in a single day – including those with Ukraine, Montenegro and Moldova.
“Three are done, 30 more to go,” said Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, noting that work has been completed quickly in “all the areas in which Albania has already been part of the EU family for years”, such as the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes. “We support Albania’s efforts to close all chapters before the end of 2027,” she continued, while stressing that “reforms need to be doubled down on” in order to match the high level of support for EU membership in the country, where “92% of citizens are in favour.”
“This Super Tuesday ended with a super ending,” celebrated Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne, speaking on behalf of the rotating Presidency of the Council. He noted that, by starting to close accession chapters, “Albania is entering a new phase in its accession process,” and that Dublin will continue advancing its candidacy “over the coming months.”
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama echoed his words, stressing that “what happened today is another very important milestone” in Albania’s “irreversible journey” towards the European Union. “This is not simply another step in a long process, but a tangible sign that reforms are delivering results and that we are ready to assume the responsibilities of membership.”
Prime Minister Rama praised a “credible and merit-based” accession process that is “in the hands” of both Brussels and Tirana. Looking ahead, he recalled that “we are on track with the ambitious timetable discussed and agreed” with the Commission to meet the closing benchmarks for the remaining 30 chapters. “If the atmosphere remains as it has been in recent months, everything will be in place – and I have no reason to believe that it will change,” he concluded.
The closure of the first accession chapters was possible thanks to the fulfilment of the interim benchmarks – the mid-process rule of law conditions that must be met before negotiations can move to the next stage – as confirmed by the Council on 26 May. The closing benchmarks for Cluster 1 – ‘Fundamentals’, the first cluster to be opened and the last to be closed, have also been set.
At the same time, however, the government in Tirana is under increasing pressure due to citizens’ protests against the redevelopment project in Zvërnec, in the district of Vlorë, involving both the uninhabited island of Sazan in the Adriatic and hundreds of hectares of the Vjosa-Narta protected area.
The project by Affinity Partners – the company owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump – is another example of so-called “corrosive capital” and clashes with the scope of Chapter 27 (Environment and Climate Change), one of the most challenging chapters for candidate countries.
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’.
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.
On 26 May 2026, Albania received a positive Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR), indicating that it has met the interim benchmarks in Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) – a prerequisite for closing chapters deemed ready for provisional closure.
To date, all 33 screened negotiating chapters have been opened, and three have been provisionally closed. In Tirana, the goal is to conclude negotiations by 2027, with full membership in sight by 2030.
