EP Report on Albania, European Commission for Politics: Albania moves forward, but reforms are not complete

Suela Gjidede

Following the adoption of the European Parliament's latest report on Albania, which raised concerns about the democratic functioning of institutions, the interference of foreign actors and the use of state resources in the May 11 elections, attention has shifted to the expectations that the European Union has for accelerating key reforms in the country.

To clarify the EU's position following the publication of the report, Politiko.al requested a comment from the European Commission on Albania's progress and the challenges that still remain in the European integration process.

In the response provided by a Commission spokesperson, the EU emphasizes that Albania has made progress in several key areas of integration, such as justice and the fight against corruption.

"EU membership is a merit-based process - and each candidate is assessed on its progress towards meeting all criteria.

In this context, the EU and Albania opened negotiations on the core group in October 2024. Albania continues to make progress in the core group, in particular in the comprehensive reform of the justice system, the vetting process, the increase in the capacity for financial investigations against organized crime and good results in anti-corruption cases ," the EC's response to Politiko.al states. 

However, it is emphasized that reforms in the rule of law, media freedom and human rights must be intensified to guarantee a sustainable and credible process of membership in the European Union.

" It is essential to intensify reforms in the rule of law, consolidating progress in the fight against corruption and organized crime, and promoting human rights, in particular in media freedom, property rights and minorities," the European Commission spokesperson stressed. 

Also, in this official reaction, the EU's commitment to advance the membership process with concrete steps during 2025 is reconfirmed.

"Albania's full compliance with the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) testifies to its role as a reliable international partner and its strategic choice of EU accession. In fact, the Group of 6 on external relations was opened last December.

Over the last few weeks, we have opened an additional group, which shows the good progress that has been made (Group 3 on 'Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth' in May and the Group on the Internal Market in April).

"To date, the total number of chapters currently being negotiated is 17. Other screening reports have also been sent to the Council, for which we expect a swift follow-up. Our aim is to open all remaining clusters during 2025 ," the EC spokesperson concludes.