STORY
Albania has been judged by the EU to have met the interim benchmarks for the fundamentals cluster in its accession negotiations, in a move described by the Council as a significant step on the country’s path towards membership. The eighth meeting of the Accession Conference with Albania confirmed progress on democratic institutions, public administration reform, rule of law chapters and economic criteria.
The decision means the EU and Albania can begin work towards closing negotiating chapters within the fundamentals cluster. Under the revised enlargement methodology, the fundamentals cluster is opened first and closed last, making progress in this area central to the overall pace of a candidate country’s accession process.
The Cyprus presidency said enlargement remained a geopolitical necessity for the EU and a priority for the presidency. Albania’s progress comes amid wider debate about how quickly the bloc can expand, how it can preserve decision-making capacity and whether new member states should enter under changed institutional arrangements.