TIRANA, Oct. 1 /ATA/ – European Union Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said Albania is making strong progress towards EU membership and that Western Balkan countries will soon benefit from EU roaming arrangements.
“Because a merit-based process takes time, a candidate country that meets the criteria for integration in certain areas can also benefit from partial integration,” Kos told Deutsche Welle.
Kos said the European Commission’s proposal for gradual integration was aimed at allowing candidate countries to benefit from closer integration with the EU before full membership, without replacing the accession process.
“The merit-based process takes time, but today we are in a geopolitical situation where we see that this time is not always available,” she said.
She said the Commission would identify areas where candidate countries could be offered “more Europe” before full accession, with the results of a pre-accession review due to be published on October 6.
“Soon, we will also offer the Western Balkan countries the benefits of roaming,” Kos said, citing CEPA, which already includes the Western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine, as an example of partial integration.
Kos said Montenegro was in the final stage of its accession process and could join the EU in 2028 if negotiations conclude as planned and member states approve the process.
On Serbia, she said the country’s elections would be a “catalyst” showing which direction it wanted to take, while stressing that candidate countries were expected to uphold European values, strengthen the rule of law, fight corruption and ensure judicial independence.
Kos also expressed hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina could advance its accession process after adopting two laws and appointing a chief negotiator.
She described 2026 as “the year of enlargement” and said the autumn would be particularly significant, with more negotiating chapters opened or closed in the first nine months than in any other year of the past 25 years.
“Albania is also making very good progress, while for Moldova and Ukraine we hope to open all negotiating clusters this year,” Kos said.
/DW/ /a.g/u.sh/
