More than two years after the official start of talks about Albania‘s accession to the EU, the substantive negotiations began yesterday.
The representatives of the EU and Tirana met yesterday in Luxembourg to open the first negotiating chapters, which address, among other things, the rule of law in Albania. Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama wants his country to join the EU by 2030.
“We will prepare Albania for the EU by 2030,” promised Rama. His country is “very committed to finally starting the hardest part of the work.” Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine “has shown that the Western Balkans need a stronger European Union, just as the Western Balkans need accession to the European Union,” Rama said.
European Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) welcomed the start of the substantive accession talks. “Reformers pay!” she wrote on the X platform under a photo shared with the prime minister of Albania.