The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, will visit Albania on Monday, August 1. Sources from the Prime Minister's Office inform that the welcoming ceremony of Pedro Sanchez will take place at 08:45 outside the premises of the PM's Office, while at 11:00 Prime Minister Edi Rama and his Spanish counterpart will hold a joint press conference. 

The Spanish Prime Minister's visit to Albania is part of the tour that Pedro Sanchez is conducting in the Western Balkans, which includes Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Albania. 

The tour is expected to be his last international activity before the summer break. 

On June 26, during a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels, Sánchez chose to "reactivate, revive and revitalize the enlargement process" for the Western Balkan countries. 

Sánchez has emphasized the importance of Spain's relations with the countries of the Western Balkans and has held meetings with most of its leaders to further address their expectations for membership in the European Union. 

EU and Western Balkan heads of state and government met last month in Brussels ahead of the latest European summit and discussed, among other things, EU membership aspirations. 

The speed with which Ukraine and Moldova gained the status of candidate countries is in contrast to the blocking of the integration of the Balkan countries, a situation that has lasted for years. 

This led some Balkan leaders to express their disappointment and warn the EU that it will lose credibility in the region. Sánchez expressed his support for the EU path of the Balkan countries. 

"When it finally becomes possible, Spain will be in favour of starting this debate," he said at a press conference after the summit between the EU and the Western Balkans.