Progress in Albania’s EU Membership Application

The Council of the European Union decided to give a mandate to the European Commission to start the preparations on the “avis” for Albania’s application for EU membership.

Albania applied for EU membership in April and has since been waiting for a response from the Council of ministers to give a mandate to the Commission, which decides if a country is ready to become an EU candidate. Albania’s wait for a response is the longest so far.

In the official decision, Brussels stressed that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the European Union. “Council reiterates that each country’s progress towards the EU depends on its individual efforts to comply with the Copenhagen criteria and the conditionality of the Stabilization and Association process”, communiqué stressed.

Following procedure, the European Commission now has to prepare a so-called questionnaire and submit it to Tirana authorities. Only after a response from the questionnaire can the actual work on the preparation of the opinion begin, widely known as “avis”. Based on previous experience, the whole process takes approximately 18 months.