The second meeting of the Accession Conference with Albania at ministerial level was held today in Luxembourg.

The European Union delegation was led by Mr Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on behalf of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the participation of Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi. The Albanian delegation was led by Mr Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania.

The meeting served to open negotiations with Albania on Cluster 1: Fundamentals, including the following areas and negotiating chapters:

• Functioning of democratic institutions 
• Public administration reform 
• Chapter 23 – Judiciary and fundamental rights
• Chapter 24 – Justice, freedom and security
• Economic criteria
• Chapter 5 – Public procurement
• Chapter 18 – Statistics
• Chapter 32 – Financial control

The EU also set interim benchmarks, both on the horizontal level for the cluster, and for chapters 23 and 24 (the rule of law chapters) that would need to be met before the next steps in the negotiating process of this cluster can be taken.

In addition, the EU set benchmarks for the provisional closure of chapters 5, 18 and 32.

"Albania is performing well in the accession process, and with the opening of the first, fundamental chapters in the EU accession negotiations, the country has reached another important milestone in its enlargement efforts. One of the key priorities of the Hungarian Presidency is to advance EU enlargement, as the European Union requires renewed momentum, fresh energy, and new perspectives, which the Western Balkans can provide. I look forward to Albania's continued progress on its path to EU membership", said Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on behalf of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis and relevant European standards will continue throughout the negotiations.

The Accession Conference will return to this cluster at an appropriate moment.

Negotiations on the Fundamentals cluster are the first to be opened and the last to be closed. Progress under this cluster will determine the overall pace of negotiations.