Accession Negotiations

The June 2018 Council set the path for the opening of accession negotiations with Albania in June 2019 and took note of the intention of the European Commission to begin the necessary preparatory work with Albania.

From September 2018 Albania is engaged in the very first phase of the accession negotitations, the screening process, through participating at the explanatory meetings of the EU acquis according to the chapters of the EU acquis.

After the Council will formally decide on the opening of accession negotiations with Albania, the second stage of the screening process, the bilateral meetings for each chapter, will commence, starting with Chapters 23 and 24.

The preparatory work for the opening of accession negotiations in Albania has proceeded in two directions: a thorough analysis of our legislation by assessing the degree of compliance with EU legislation and planning the next approximation and the establishment of the institutional structure for the conduct of negotiations.

The Council of Ministers’ Decision no.749, dated 19.12.2018 “On the establishment, organization and functioning of the state structure responsible for the conduct of negotiations and the conclusion of the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Albania to the European Union” set the negotiating structure for future accession negotiations. This structure will also deal with the  implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement; the adoption of  EU law in our legal corpus, as well as the management of EU financial assistance.

The highest body of this structure is the State Committee for European Integration, chaired by the Prime Minister. During the negotiation process, this body shall ensure the coordination of positions for each chapter, as it currently does in overseeing the key issues of the European integration process, including the smooth runnning of the Stabilization – Association Agreement EU-Albania.

On May 20th 2019, by order of Prime Minister no. 94 “On the Establishment, Composition and Functioning of Inter-Institutional Working Groups”, the Inter-institutional Working Groups have been reorganised for each area of EU policymaking.

By the Order of the Prime Minister no. 93 of 23 May 2019 “On the Organization and Functioning of the Technical Committee of the Inter-Institutional Working Groups” the Technical Committee of the Inter-Institutional Working Groups has been set up, composed of all the chairpersons of the inter-institutional working groups, under the head of the  Deputy  Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in charge of European integration,

The preparatory work for opening negotiations will be a demanding process for the public administration, which will face the challenges of planning an intensive process of transposing EU legislation, implementing transposed legislation and formulating negotiating positions.

On the other hand, accession negotiations will require not only the efforts of the public administration, but also the involvement of a large part of academia, civil society, interest groups and business.

By the Prime Minister’s Order No.113 dated 30.08.2019 “On the forms of participation, functioning and institutional structure of the European Integration Partnership Platform” the Partnership Platform has been established.

The platform will consist of a series of tables. There will be a round table for each chapter, where the inter-institutional working group will conduct dialogue with stakeholders and representatives of civil society. A call of interest for each chapter has been published by the lead state institution of each chapter of the acquis.