An explanatory meeting of the EU legislation on Chapter 27 of the accession negotiations “Environment” was held in Brussels. This was the forthcoming explanatory meeting with the European Commission as part of the screening process for membership negotiations.

The Albanian delegation in this meeting was chaired by Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Sokol Dedja, and Deputy Minister of Tourism and Environment, Ornela Cuci, Albanian Mission in Brussels, and other representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment as coordinators in this chapter.

The beginning of this process follows the EU Council of Ministers’ decision in June 2018, which set the path for opening negotiations with Albania and authorized the Commission to start preparatory work for the analytical assessment of the Albanian legislation with the European Union acquis.

During the meeting, the Albanian delegation was briefed with the legal acts and main policies of the European Union. The agenda of the meeting consisted in the presentation of the legal framework on air quality standards, urban wastewater treatment, registration, assessment, authorization and limitation of chemicals (REACH), nitrate directive and the infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community.

The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the lead institution for this chapter, the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment, in cooperation with respective working groups, in the analysis of the meeting agenda, identified the contributing institutions in this process, as well as prepared the preliminary legal analysis along with technical questions related to the approximation and enforcement of legislation.

At the next stage, at the bilateral meeting, Albania is required to present the level of approximation and implementation of its legislation with the European Union acquis, as well as its plans and strategies for this purpose.