At annual monitoring meetings held in Tirana on June 9-10, representatives of the European Commission and the Albanian government reviewed progress under the Reform and Growth Facility (RGF) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), which support Albania’s path toward EU membership.

Since the launch of the Growth Plan in 2024, Albania has completed 21 of 41 reform steps in the first reporting period and 12 of 21 in the second. Based on that progress, the EU has so far disbursed 213 million euros in three instalments from a total allocation of 922 million euros.

The meetings assessed reforms in five priority areas: the business environment, human capital, energy, digital transformation and infrastructure, and the rule of law.

Deputy Prime Minister Albana Koçiu reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the reform agenda, describing the next reporting round in July as a key test of Albania’s administrative capacity and readiness for EU accession.

Sigrid Brettel, head of unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST), welcomed Albania’s performance and encouraged further progress.

“Albania’s performance under the Reform and Growth Facility is good, and we want to support you in making it excellent,” Brettel said, noting that additional EU funding could be made available to the region’s best-performing countries.

The European Commission stressed the importance of maintaining reform momentum to secure future disbursements and advance Albania’s accession process.

Separately, the annual IPA monitoring committee reviewed around 150 EU-funded projects supporting accession-related reforms. Since 2007, the EU has provided more than 1.9 billion euros in grants to Albania, helping mobilise an estimated 4.7 billion euros in investments together with financing from the Western Balkans Investment Framework.

The Commission also welcomed the launch of new projects in areas including anti-corruption, environmental protection, local governance and food safety, and noted the approval of a further 100 million euros under the 2025-2027 IPA programme to support reforms in the rule of law, justice, human rights and good governance.

Participants also highlighted the need to accelerate implementation of major programmes worth around 130 million euros in areas such as digital transformation, energy efficiency and youth employment.

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Presenting the agreement’s details, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Ami Kozeli noted that the assistance fund is worth up to 33.31 million euros, with the EU allocating 26.65 million euros and the rest will be co-funded by the two countries.

“The agreement’s objective is to assist cross-border regions between Albania and Greece for a smooth transition and stable economy to reduce inequalities and smooth integration. The programme will support 5 districts in total, namely Vlora, Gjirokastra, Berat, Korça and Fier, which has been added recently,” Kozeli said.

The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy noted that the programme prioritizes three main areas, including disaster mitigation and prevention, promotion of access to water, and sustainable water management, nature and biodiversity conservation.

“The programme also supports improvement of access to cross-border areas, mobility, resilience, sustainable economic development, equal access to healthcare services,” Kozeli said.

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The Parliament of Albania ratified yesterday the EU agreement which will allow Albania to receive funds from the EU Pre-accession Assistance Instrument (IPAIII). This pre-accession assistance supports EU candidate countries and potential candidate countries to adopt and implement key political, institutional, social and economic reforms to be in line with EU values ​​and progressively align with EU rules, standards and policies.

The new funding, which will not need to be repaid, will be directed at a range of sectors such as justice reform, environment, energy, private sector development, agriculture, employment and social inclusion, good governance, decentralization, local government and civil society.

Ambassador Christiane Hohmann, Head of the EU Delegation in Albania, said that “the opening of membership negotiations this summer was a historic moment in EU-Albania relations, but our connection has always been very strong”.

“For years, the EU has been the biggest supporter of reforms in Albania, providing almost 100 million Euros per year for programs in areas such as justice reform, agriculture and many other areas that affect the lives of Albanian citizens. This ratification continues this strong partnership with a new and larger package of support to help the government in the expansion process in the coming years, as well as to improve the daily life of Albanians,” she said./p.s./

The agreement on the specific rules for the implementation of EU financial assistance for the Republic of Albania, within the framework of the instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA III) was approved a day ago, in the Committee for Economy and Finance.

“Discussing the difficulties, problems and levels of absorption of these funds, we evaluated the lessons learned so far from the implementation of previous IPAs. The innovations of this agreement, as well as the experience gained, will serve as a qualitative step in compliance with the basic membership criteria”, said Shalsi.

Shalsi said that in contrast to previous IPAs and other financial agreements, in IPA III, the Albanian government will apply the exemption from VAT, and not the refund afterwards./r.e/p.s./

Deputy Minister Hodaj confirmed his support for the association.

“IPA Albania aspires full membership in the IPA, in the autumn of the current year, in the congress held in Spain. After the meeting, the delegation placed a wreath of flowers at the Wall of Stars, in honor of the martyrs of the State Police, who fell on duty”, said the Ministry of Interior through a post on social networks.

The International Police Association (IPA) is an international association whose members are active, reserve, or retired police officers.

The main purpose of the activity of this association is to establish friendship ties between member countries, as well as to promote international police cooperation worldwide.

The motto of the association is in Esperanto “Servo per Amikeco” – “We serve through Friendship”./p.s./

In a press release, it is announced that the EU Ambassador to Kosovo Tomas Szunyog handed over today in Pristina to Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi the IPA III Financial Partnership Framework Agreement approved by the European Commission.

Bislimi signed the Agreement, which, once ratified by the Assembly of Kosovo, will enable Kosovo to receive further technical and financial assistance from the European Union. It covers the annual IPA programs for the period 2021-2027 and will enable the immediate approval of IPA 2021 funds for Kosovo in the amount of 64 million Euros.

“We will use IPA III funding to improve the protection of human rights, gender equality, municipal governance and public safety in Kosovo. Funding will also be directed at capacity building of Kosovo administration to meet EU standards and to respond quickly to urgent economic, health or social needs, to protect the environment in line with EU best practices, to increase the competitiveness of Kosovo’s agri-food sector and help meet the economic criteria for EU membership, “said Szunyog.

Kosovo began to benefit from IPA funding in 2007. Since then, and until the end of 2022, a total of € 1.21 billion has been allocated to Kosovo through IPA I and IPA II.

“Pre-accession funds provide a very important impetus to complement our continued progress in EU-related reforms. IPA III funds will be used to accelerate the EU integration process and internal reforms, as well as to support the necessary investments for the implementation of reforms within the European Reform Agenda, National Development Strategy and sectoral strategies with a focus on youth employment, energy, environment, sustainable and inclusive growth among many other areas “, said Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi.

The EU remains Kosovo’s largest trading partner and largest provider of financial assistance./p.s./

Speaking in the Assembly on ratification of the financing agreement between Albania and the European Union Commission, regarding the Annual Action Plan for Albania for 2020 within the instrument of pre-accession assistance (IPA II), Tabaku emphasized the efforts to push the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to line up for their core task of the European integration process.

“I have a socialist colleague witness on how we encountered total resistance from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. For the first time in this Parliament, since it convened in September, we cannot make a debate motion on integration because the ministry has not presented to us any working plan for the progress report. I say, whenever there is an issue for integration, I will vote for it and the Democratic Party will vote for it,” she said.

Tabaku said that the IPA agreement consists of a considerable amount of 100 million Euros and it is approved every year, regardless of whether it goes well or badly, regardless of what the government does, regardless of how this package approved in the 7-year framework is implemented. It is a package that the EU gives to the government, as it gives to other governments throughout the Western Balkans.

“Thanks God we have partners, we have friends because as it is already seen, there is support for the pandemic, there are funds for reconstruction. There were more EU funds for the reconstruction and thanks God they managed them by themselves, because if the government had managed them, it is known where the money would go”, said Tabaku./a.a/r.e/p.s./

Balla emphasized that the EU approval of this instrument is a strong signal on the significance of the enlargement process.

“Thank you for the approval by the European Union of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) for the period 2021-2027. This € 14 billion instrument will support candidate and potential candidate countries in adopting and implementing key political, institutional, social and economic reforms. The EU approval of this instrument is a strong signal of the significance of the enlargement process and the ongoing support to the countries of the Western Balkans. Albania will continue the path of important reforms for the benefit of the country’s membership in the European family”, stated Balla. /a.a/p.s./