Accession Conference with Albania: EU opens negotiations on the internal market cluster

15 Apr 2025

The fourth meeting of the Accession Conference with Albania at ministerial level was held on 15 April 2025 in Luxembourg. The European Union delegation was led by Mr Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the participation of Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. The Albanian delegation was led by Mr Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania.

Today, we held the first Intergovernmental Conference with one of the candidate countries under the Polish presidency. EU enlargement remains at the core of our priorities. This concrete progress reflects our strong commitment towards our partners in the Western Balkans, a region which is key for the stability and security of the European Union. Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

The meeting served to open negotiations with Albania on Cluster 2: Internal market, including the following negotiating chapters:

Chapter 1 – Free movement of goods,
Chapter 2 – Freedom of movement of workers,
Chapter 3 – Right of establishment and freedom to provide services,
Chapter 4 – Free movement of capital,
Chapter 6 – Company law,
Chapter 7 – Intellectual property law,
Chapter 8 – Competition policy,
Chapter 9 – Financial services,
Chapter 28 – Consumer and health protection

The EU also set benchmarks for the provisional closure of these chapters. This follows the opening of the first cluster on ‘Fundamentals’ and of the sixth cluster on ‘External relations’ at the Accession Conferences with Albania held on 15 October and 17 December 2024, respectively. Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis and relevant European standards will continue throughout the negotiations. The Accession Conference will return to this cluster at an appropriate moment.

Background

Following the introduction of the revised methodology for the accession negotiations in 2020, negotiating chapters are divided in six 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.