Albania will open its first negotiating chapters with the European Union at the Intergovernmental Conference which will be held on 15 October. This was confirmed today by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, who received his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama for a visit to Budapest. Hungary is currently holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), a preparatory body of the Council of the EU, is scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday afternoon, during which the European Union Common Position for the negotiations with Albania in Cluster 1 is expected to be approved. This would complete the procedural steps required to open the negotiating chapters.

“We don’t just talk about accelerating the accession of the Western Balkans, we deliver!”, Viktor Orbán posted today on his X account, announcing the date of the opening of the first Cluster with Albania.

In his remarks at the press conference with Orbán, Edi Rama thanked Hungary and the outgoing Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi for their support.

Cluster 1: Fundamentals consists of Chapter 5: Public procurement, Chapter 18: Statistics, Chapter 23: Judiciary and fundamental rights, Chapter 24: Justice, freedom and security and Chapter 32: Financial control.

Chapters 23 and 24 are considered to be the most important and among the most difficult to close, covering the issues of the rule of law, including the independence of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and organized crime and media freedom.

Cluster 1 also includes the areas of the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration reform, as well as economic criteria. These areas are not organized into specific chapters.

According to the EU enlargement methodology, last revised in 2020, Cluster 1 is opened first and closed last. The progress in these areas will determine the overall pace of negotiations.

Albania will thus make the next step in its accession negotiations with the EU, after the official opening of negotiations in July 2022. It will join Montenegro and Serbia as the third Western Balkan country to open negotiating chapters.

Last month, Albania was decoupled from North Macedonia, which remains stuck on its accession path due to a veto of Bulgaria. The decision was criticised by analysts.