During her official visit to Ireland, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the progress made by Albania and Montenegro in their EU accession negotiations, emphasizing that both countries are advancing in the enlargement process based on merit.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlbania and Montenegro continue to make progress in the enlargement process. I very much welcome your strong support for this merit-based approach, as you described it. This support also includes the objective of concluding Montenegro\u2019s accession negotiations by the end of the year,\u201d von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n
The European Commission President also recalled the European Union\u2019s historic 2004 enlargement, which took place during Ireland\u2019s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have every reason to trust Ireland on this matter because, after all, the historic 2004 enlargement was achieved under the Irish Presidency of the Council. Ireland\u2019s own history reminds us why enlargement is one of Europe\u2019s smartest investments,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s Prime Minister, whose country currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, also reaffirmed his support for candidate countries on their path toward full EU membership.<\/p>\n
Albania is currently in the final phase of its accession negotiations after fulfilling the interim benchmarks under the \u201cFundamentals\u201d cluster.<\/p>\n
The country applied for European Union membership in 2009, was granted candidate status in 2014, and officially opened accession negotiations in 2022.<\/p>\n
Throughout the negotiation process, Albania has opened all six negotiation clusters. By the end of 2025, the remaining chapters covering resources, agriculture, and cohesion policy had also been opened.<\/p>\n
During the Eighth Accession Conference in Brussels, the European Union confirmed that Albania had met the interim benchmarks in the area of the rule of law, allowing the country to move into the final stage of accession negotiations.<\/p>\n
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has set the goal of securing Albania\u2019s membership in the European Union by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During her official visit to Ireland, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the progress made by Albania and Montenegro in their EU accession negotiations, emphasizing that both countries are advancing in the enlargement process based on merit. \u201cAlbania and Montenegro continue to make progress in the enlargement process. I very much welcome your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":85476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n