Accession of Albania to the European Union

Accession of Albania to the European Union
Status	Candidate negotiating
Earliest possible entry	2030
Application European perspective 2003 Membership application 24 April 2009 Candidate status 24 June 2014 Screening July 2022 Screened & negotiations commence 15 October 2024
Negotiations Clusters open 1 Chapters open 5 Clusters closed 0 Chapters closed 0 0% complete
Memberships & Treaties Association Agreement 1 April 2009 Economic and monetary policy EU Free Trade Agreement part of the SAA World Trade Organization (WTO) Member since 8 September 2000 Euro & the Eurozone The euro is widely accepted in Albania, although it has no formal approval, and the official currency of the country is the Albanian Lek Travel Schengen visa liberalisation 15 December 2010 Energy Energy Community 24 May 2006 Euratom There are no nuclear power plants or research reactors in Albania. ENTSO-E Operatori i Sistemit te Transmetimit is a member Foreign and military policy North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 1 April 2009 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) 17 September 1991 Human rights and international courts Council of Europe (CoE) Member since 13 July 1995 International Criminal Court (ICC) Member since 1 May 2003 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Entitled to appear since 14 December 1955
Impact (27+1) Population 446,828,803 449,845,596 0.63% Area 4,233,262 km2 1,634,472 mi2 4,264,004 km2 0.68% 1,645,572 mi2 0.68% HDI 0.896 0.891 0.22% GDP (PPP) $25.399 trillion GDP per capita (PPP) $56,928 GDP $17.818 trillion GDP per capita $39,940 Gini 30.0 31.31 0.4% Official Languages 24 Albanian 1

Politics of Albania
Constitution Human rights
Executive President: Bajram Begaj (list) Prime Minister: Edi Rama (list) Deputy Prime Minister: Belinda Balluku (list) Cabinet
Legislature Parliament Speaker: Lindita Nikolla (list) Committees Members Leader of the Opposition
Judiciary Constitutional Court Administrative Court Court of Justice (ordinary jurisdiction) Supreme Court
Administrative divisions Counties Municipalities Cities Villages
Elections Recent elections Presidential 2012 2017 2022 Parliamentary 2017 2021 next Local 2015 2019 2023 Referendums 1994 1997 1998 Political parties Parliamentary PD PS LSI PDIU FRD PR PBDNJ LIBRA
Foreign relations Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister: Igli Hasani Diplomatic missions of / in Albania Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Albania
v t e

Albania is on the current agenda for future enlargement of the European Union (EU). It applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009, and has since June 2014 been an official candidate for accession. The Council of the European Union decided in March 2020 to open accession negotiations with Albania.^[1]

However, the country did not start accession negotiations because its candidacy was linked to that of North Macedonia, which was vetoed by Bulgaria.^[2] On 24 June 2022, Bulgaria's parliament approved lifting the country's veto on opening EU accession talks with North Macedonia. On 16 July 2022, the Assembly of North Macedonia also approved the revised French proposal, allowing accession negotiations to begin.^[3] The start of negotiations was officially launched on 19 July 2022.^[4] As of October 2024^[update], Albania aims to be ready for accession by 2030, a timeline acknowledged by Prime Minister Edi Rama as "very ambitious."^[5]

It is one of nine current EU candidate countries, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.