The eighth meeting of the Accession Conference with Albania confirmed that Albania has, overall, met the interim benchmarks on the so-called cluster (fundamentals).
This cluster covers notably the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform, the rule of law chapters and economic criteria.
Comment came from Marilena Raouna, Deputy Minister for European affairs of the Republic of Cyprus.
On Wednesday, the minister said, “Today’s milestone for Albania confirms the fulfilment of the interim benchmarks for the fundamentals cluster.
“It demonstrates the country’s commitment to further advance its path towards EU membership and marks the beginning of a demanding phase focused on implementation, solid track records and lasting results.
“Enlargement is a geopolitical necessity for the EU and a top priority for the Cyprus presidency. It is a merit-based process, in which determined reforms lead to concrete progress towards accession.”
The meeting follows the opening of all negotiating clusters with Albania in Accession Conferences held in 2024 and 2025, including the latest one on ‘Resources, agriculture and cohesion’ on 17 November 2025. With today’s step, the EU and Albania will be in a position to start closing negotiating chapters.
Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis and relevant European standards will continue throughout the negotiations.
The EU also set benchmarks for the provisional closure of the chapters that belong to cluster 1. The Accession Conference will return to cluster 1 at an appropriate moment.
Background
Following the introduction of the revised methodology for accession negotiations in 2020, negotiating chapters are divided in 6 thematic clusters:
Fundamentals
Internal market
Competitiveness and inclusive growth
Green agenda and sustainable connectivity
Resources, agriculture and cohesion
External relations
Negotiations on the Fundamentals cluster are the first to be opened and the last to be closed, and progress under this cluster will determine the overall pace of negotiations.
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