TIRANA, May 22/ATSH/ The fifth Intergovernmental Conference on Albania’s EU accession was held on Thursday in Brussels.
The European Union delegation was led by Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol, Permanent Representative of Poland to the EU, representing the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, with the participation of the European Commission’s Director-General, Gert Jan Koopman, while the Albanian delegation was headed by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Igli Hasani.
The meeting served to open negotiations with Albania on Cluster 3: “Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth.”
This cluster includes the following negotiation chapters:
Chapter 10 – Digital Transformation and Media,
Chapter 16 – Taxation,
Chapter 17 – Economic and Monetary Policy
Chapter 19 – Social Policy and Employment
Chapter 20 – Enterprise and Industrial Policy
Chapter 25 – Science and Research
Chapter 26 – Education and Culture
Chapter 29 – Customs Union
At today’s conference, the European Union also set the benchmarks for the provisional closing of these chapters.
“This conference follows the opening of the first cluster, ‘Fundamentals,’ the sixth cluster, ‘External Relations,’ and the second cluster on the ‘Internal Market’ in Albania’s Accession Conferences, held respectively on October 15, 2024, December 17, 2024, and April 14, 2025.”
“The monitoring of progress in aligning and applying the EU acquis and relevant European standards will be ongoing throughout the negotiation process. The accession conference will revisit this cluster when deemed appropriate,” states the press release from the Council of the European Union.
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