Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has accepted the idea of limited voting rights suggested by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in order to speed up the integration of candidate countries for membership of the European Union, while stating clearly that “candidate countries should not be separated” and stressing the need to preserve the merit-based nature of the accession process. The German Chancellor proposed granting Ukraine associate member status, as well as observer status and privileged access to the single market for the Western Balkans countries within the European Union (see EUROPE 13872/3).
“For years, I have thought that we need to find a creative approach, because we are living in a completely new world. Europe has to face war on its own territory as well as many other challenges, and a more united Europe is obviously beneficial for everyone”, he said, stressing that this is not about “giving up full membership or the rights attached to it”.
“This is about moving towards a fully integrated Europe, with certain intermediate stages and transition mechanisms”, he added during the press conference following the eighth Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) between EU and Albania, held in Brussels on Tuesday 26 May.
According to Mr Rama, the Chancellor’s proposals are “very welcome”, because they show the “special attention” he is paying to enlargement. He said he intended to discuss them at the next EU-Western Balkans Summit, to be held in Montenegro on 5 June, insisting that “this is not about creating a two-speed Europe”.
“We must focus on what lies ahead of us. (…) The fact that enlargement is an absolute priority implies advancing this agenda with all candidate countries. We have an agreed methodology and it is on this basis that we are working”, said Cypriot Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raouna, whose country currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The Cypriot Minister specified that the ideas put forward by Chancellor Merz “have not yet been discussed by the Member States” at the ‘General Affairs’ Council preceding the IGC, but that a large number of Ministers from the Member States had stressed the ongoing negotiations (see EUROPE 13874/25). She insisted on the importance of ensuring that “all partners are treated equally” as well as on respect for the merit-based approach specific to each candidate.
For European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, the Chancellor’s proposals are a “positive contribution to the wider debate” on the evolution of the enlargement methodology. “The main challenge for the enlargement process today is to reconcile the principle of merit, which takes time, with the need to respond to the current geopolitical situation”, she said, admitting that “several options” were currently being examined in terms of “safeguards”, but that no decision had yet been taken. She warned that if the EU did not integrate the candidate countries, “other actors could gain influence there and then use it against us”.
During the eighth IGC, the EU confirmed that Albania had met the interim benchmarks for the cluster of chapters relating to the “fundamentals”, which covers the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform, the chapters linked to the Rule of law, as well as the economic criteria. This development paves the way for the provisional closure of individual negotiating chapters, once the required conditions have been met in each policy area. According to sources close to the negotiations on both sides, two or three chapters (chapters 25, 26 and 30) could be provisionally closed before the summer break.
The European side also set the closing benchmarks for the cluster of chapters relating to the fundamentals, the last of the six clusters to be closed. Through their embassies in Tirana, Germany and the Netherlands stressed the need for Albania to respect the independence of the judicial system and to continue the fight against corruption, including in cases involving senior officials. “This also means that decisions concerning the waiver of immunity are taken in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission”.
Marta Kos urged Albania to continue its reforms in order to achieve its objective of closing the accession negotiations by the end of 2027. “We will be part of this family before the end of this decade”, Mr Rama said, while acknowledging that his country still had a great deal of work to do. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)