Brussels, 12 October 2024 (MIA) – The EU’s Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper II) has adopted an EU Common Position opening the first negotiation cluster with Albania, thus allowing an intergovernmental conference to be held with Albania on 15 October 2024 in Luxembourg, the Hungarian EU Presidency has announced.

“Albania will be the first among candidate countries to open accession negotiations under the revised enlargement methodology, which will be a key moment for the Western Balkan country,” said the press release. 

The first set of chapters covers the fundamental reforms, paving the way to starting negotiations on other clusters. 

“Progress on these reforms will also determine the overall pace of the negotiations,” said Hungary’s EU Presidency. 

Ahead of Friday’s decision, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met in Budapest on 11 October 2024. In addition to discussing the accession negotiations, the two leaders agreed to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation, according to the press release. 

In September, Coreper decided to allow Albania to start negotiations with the EU by opening clusters. Under the decision, Albania was decoupled on its EU accession path from North Macedonia. 

MIA file photo