On October 15th, in Luxembourg, negotiations for Albania’s accession to the EU will begin. The beginning of these negotiations will take place at the EU-Albania Intergovernmental Conference.
“Albania will be the first of the candidate countries to start accession negotiations according to the revised enlargement methodology, which will be a pivotal moment for this Western Balkan country,” stated the Hungarian presidency.
Five critical chapters
This first batch of accession funds addresses fundamental issues that Albania must resolve as a candidate country for the EU. It includes five critical chapters:
- Judiciary and Fundamental Rights
- Justice, Freedom, and Security
- Public Procurement
- Statistics
- Financial Control
In light of this development, a meeting was held in Budapest between the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, and that of Albania, Edi Rama. At the meeting, the two leaders discussed the accession negotiations of Albania for the EU and agreed to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation.
Discontent in North Macedonia
We must note that, last month, the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) agreed to send a joint letter from the 27 EU member states to Albania with regards to its accession. The letter regarded the start of negotiations for Albania—but not for North Macedonia—on the first batch of accession funds. Thus, it proceeded with the decoupling of the previously paired candidate countries for EU membership.
The government of North Macedonia has expressed its displeasure at the disconnection of its European course from that of Albania. It asserted that the EU is doing a grave injustice to Skopje.
Concerns over Albanian reforms
Last month, the Greek MEP Beleris stated that “Albania is moving away from the European acquis.” He emphasized:
“Today, I am here as a minority Greek MEP. I am coming from an EU member state, but born in a country that aspires to join the European family. Unfortunately, this country is constantly moving away from the European acquis instead of getting closer to it.”
Beleris also mentioned that “the current situation in Albania shows how reforms can easily turn into ‘totalitarian bombs’ on the foundations of a democratic state.”
“This also happened with the judicial reform financed by European resources,” he added.
He further pointed out:
“The Albanian government has often made the judiciary its arm, which it did not only in my case, but also in the case of its leading opposition officer. Our Union now faces an oxymoron: the more certain its support for Mr. Rama’s leadership is considered, the more intense the anti-European sentiment among the country’s citizens becomes.”
It should be noted that, since the beginning of the year, in light of what was believed to be the unfair detention of ethnically Greek Mayor Beleris by Tirana, Greece pointed to North Macedonia as the most suitable country to establish a defense and security pact with the EU. However, this proposal was not accepted, and the Albanian cause also did not progress despite strong support from Italy.
Greece has previously threatened to block EU accession talks with Albania over the Beleris case.